Rapture
by witchhuntress
Summary: Mai had enough of Naru's crap and stopped chasing him, but why was he chasing her instead? Why wouldn't he let go of her when she'd let go of him? Sequel to 'Dollmaker' & Transition to "Transcendence" CH 2 UPDATED!
1. Reversal

**Review of Dollmaker**

Just then, there was a clicking sound, and I whipped around in bewilderment.

"Wha━?" I gasped.

"I knew you were going to say that," Naru spoke smartly.

"Naru, you━!" I sputtered in disbelief at our handcuffed wrists. _W-w-w-wha━!_

Naru gave a smirk: the expression I'd always hated...and loved.

"You're not the only one who's stubborn, Mai," he quipped with his rare yet amaranthine ethereal smile.

Then he grasped my hand and took me away with him.

**End of Review**

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"_**You wanna know more, more, more about me?**_

_**Gotta know reverse psychology."**_

_**~Tangled Up In Me, sung by Skye Sweetnam~**_

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If someone was running, would you just chase?

…

…

…

Why...?

Why should roles be like that?

Why couldn't two people run away at the same time?

Why should someone always chase the runner?

I could never really understand the joy of the running-chasing game. When I was small, it was always like that; when someone was walking ahead of me, I must follow. If I wouldn't, I would be left behind.

But, for what purpose was following? For what purpose was chasing someone who's persistent on running away?

I could never understand the cops who chase robbers during my childhood games. I could never understand the joy of chasing someone who doesn't want to be followed.

Why try to chase when you could just wait for the person to come to you? Why try to chase when it would just tire you out?

It's really mystifying━this predator-prey-like relationship. Were people supposed to be magnets, being pulled towards each other in a cat-and-mouse fashion?

It's indescribably fascinating...these fixed notions.

But why was it like that?

Why...when you loved someone and you tried not to chase...you're being pursued instead...?

Why...when the chaser had stopped chasing the runner, the runner became the chaser?

Why...when I'd stopped chasing...Naru's the one chasing me?

…

…

…

Why...when I'd let go of him...he wouldn't let go of me?

...How inscrutable, right?

…

...

Ahh...but still...there's something wrong with me too...

As Naru took me away with him from the airport...our handcuffed wrists colliding every now and then...

As I was tugged along, and we darted out to the parking lot in breathtaking strides...

Although I was aware that his abduction of me was forbidden...a _**crime**_...

That I was supposed to be angry...

I was supposed to be screaming kidnapper, molester, or whatnot to throw him off...

Yet why did I let him take me away voicelessly?

…

…

...

_**Why am I happy that he's kidnapping me?**_

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**A/N: This is just some sort of overview/prologue. I know it's not attention-grabbing, and it's quite crappy. T_T Sorry. To those who are reading this now in whatever time, this is a SUMMER VACATION story. There's NO CASE TO SOLVE. **

**I am very grateful to those who read my own take on the Ghost Hunt series starting from **Reminiscence **and then **Dollmaker**. ^^ The real case story next to Dollmaker will be **Transcendence**, which has an **incomplete** chapter 1 out already in my profile (if any of you are ever curious at all). I've been pretty careful about it since I didn't want to spoil the ending of this story; that's why the first chap is still incomplete.**

**Anyway, yes. I've decided to make a sequel for the fluff. So, Dollmaker has officially finished! OMG! I can't believe I'd finished two massive fanfics! I feel glad for myself at least because it wasn't easy, especially Dollmaker. I can't believe I've updated like 7 (?) chapters in 2 ½ months? They weren't ordinary chapters too! :o Thank you for all your support!**

**How was this chap? You may share your thoughts ^^**


	2. Reality Check

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own Ghost Hunt characters; Fuyumi Ono-sensei does. Therefore, I cannot promise that characters will be totally "in character"; only Ono-sensei can do that. All I can do is an attempt to make them "in character" so that I can fool myself into a tale that I fabricated.

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**DAY 1**

**31 MINS. LATER**

"HELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPP!" I shouted outside the right window of Naru's black BMW. "HEEELLLLLLP MEEE! I'M BEING ABDUCTEEED! Ah! There's the police! POLICE! POLICE! A PSYCHO IS GOING TO━Mphf!"

"Stop it, already," Naru's voice rang out unfavorably as he covered my mouth with his right hand while the other was turning the steering wheel.

I glared at him and spat at his hand. He let go and looked at my saliva, on his right palm, with a face as though he bit some lemon. He then glowered at me, and I returned the gesture.

I didn't care if it was gross. I didn't care about being shameless at all.

"YOU JERK!" I punched his right arm and kicked him continuously━causing him to sway the car in a dangerous way. "YOU SELFISH JERK! KIDNAPPER! IDIOT SCIENTIST! NARCISSIST! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? CLAUDE IS WAITING FOR ME! I PROMISED CLAUDE! HOW COULD YOU BE SO SELFISH? HOW COULD YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!"

"I HATE YOU!" I carried on. "I HATE YOU, YOU SELFISH JERK!"

"Ma━" Naru tried to stop my right hand and legs, but he couldn't.

So, he swerved and skidded his car to a halt beside a crowded sidewalk. I continued badmouthing him━making the passersby stare at us━and Naru pressed a button to roll the windows up before clutching both of my wrists.

"Mai, stop━" He struggled as I kicked him and shook my arms wildly.

"NO!" I readied to spit on his face, but he'd foreseen it...

And he covered my mouth with my own fettered left hand.

Ack.

I stared at my palm with my saliva and then wiped it on his shirt.

"Mai!" He glared and I smirked.

"Suits you right!"

We then fired katanas at each other.

Every fiber of me hated him. I hated him for taking me so easily. I hated him for making me...happy. I hated him...for obstructing me from moving on.

I gritted my teeth. "Jerk."

He finally sighed. "You're really immature."

I fumed. "What? And you aren't? Do you even know what you just did? Handcuffing me with you and kidnapping me? Do you even know how much Claude had given up for me just to go to Osaka? Do you even know how long Claude might have been waiting in the airport? You don't know a thing! And yet you just show up as though you have no care in the world if your action will hurt somebody else! HOW CAN YOU BE SO SELFISH? I HATE YOU!"

I motioned to punch him on his chest, but he halted me. I gripped his shirt and motioned to slap him across his face...

But I couldn't...

Tears had formed in my eyes.

I pushed him back to my frustration, but it just caused me to be pulled to him through our handcuffed wrists.

"Why...Naru? Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this...only now? Why are you doing this...when there's somebody who'll get hurt?" I demanded and inopportunely began to sob.

My throat was hurting. It was dry and itchy and uncomfortable. My head was throbbing incessantly, but it wasn't just because of the summer's heat that I felt like undergoing heatstroke.

It was the guilt that I hadn't resisted well enough against Naru's selfishness.

It was because...I was so full of rapture when Naru took me away.

"Claude took a leave for us to be together, you know? He's always been there for me, you know? And where were you? You were always far away! You were always far away...So why are you only coming close now? Why are you nearing me now at the time when you shouldn't be?" I croaked.

With teary eyes, I gave him a withering look, and he gazed at me...ruefully...

"I...didn't know then," he reasoned and shrugged. His brows were knitted, and he didn't seem to know how to explain why he'd done what he'd done. His puzzled expression made me perplexed myself...

Because how could a man who could rant on about scientific things not be able to do the same about his sudden actions? How could a man who usually thought before he acted be...seemingly the opposite at that instance?

"You're really dense," I growled.

And he just nodded. "Yeah."

"Bring me back to Claude. Please."

Expressionlessly, he peered at me and averted his eyes. "Is that what you really want?"

"Yes. Because Claude deserves me more than you do."

He was sullen...then... "What if I won't?"

"You━!"

We ogled at each other. He didn't smirk, but he was quietly...pleading...with leaden eyes...of unmistakable hopelessness.

Why...How could he look at me like that? Wasn't he supposed to be indifferent...unfeeling?

I shunted my head. "Please...don't do this. Don't make it hard for me."

We were soundless once more.

The people driving by us were lucky. They knew where they were going. They knew who they should be with...

But I...

"Mai."

I whirled back to him, and he gave me some tissues. Noiselessly, I took some, wiped my face and hands, and used a bottle of sanitizer he'd handed to me.

"Take me back, Naru," I said and sneezed.

He shrugged and suspired.

"I will." He straitened his eyes at the windshield and then peered at me with a frozen unfathomable visage. "But not now."

"WHAT?" I dropped the bottle of sanitizer and tissues on my lap.

Extending his right hand, he gently squeezed my left arm, and I nictated.

"Listen to me."

I narrowed my eyes at him and swatted his hand off. "Why should I? Claude paid for my plane fare; do you know that? How can you have no conscience? We might have missed our flight already! So you must compensate him and book us another flight! I'm not going with you, so stop━"

"Two weeks."

"What?"

"Be with me for two weeks," he elaborated.

"What are you━?"

"Give me two weeks to change your mind."

"Hah...?" _Change my mind? About what?_

He was looking so grave...not that he didn't all the time.

"I will compensate Murakami-san afterwards, but two weeks from now, be with me."

I gaped at him. "That's━"

"Please."

The 'P' word again. It loomed over my head as though an absolute reign.

_What does he think of me? Someone he can just order around? HAH!_

"What's up with that? Two weeks? How could you be so confident?" I derided.

He tipped his head to the left a little. "Do you want to extend the time then?"

I puffed, "Ha! Of course not! And I haven't agreed! Bring me back to the airport!"

He loured. "I don't think so."

"Wha━? Argh!"

_Ah moh! Why is he so stubborn?_

"Take me back! Why do I have to play this foolish game with you? Why do I have to go by your conditions? No matter how many weeks will pass, I won't change my mind!"

"So, you're going to run away then?"

"I'm not running away!"

"Prove it then," he said testingly. "Prove it within two weeks, or are you afraid you'll change your mind?"

He smirked, and I was very irked.

"Of course not! Why are you━?"

"If you definitely, really don't want to be with me, tell me after you've been alone with me for two weeks," he persisted with his eyes glinting craftily. "Until you've proven anything, I won't let you go."

_This sly jerk! Argh! Moh! Honestly!_

So I decided, "Let's make a deal then! When we go back to the airport and if Claude's not there anymore, I'll go with you! But if he's still there, I won't go with you!"

It was a stupid deal, but I knew Claude would still be in the airport...I knew he would wait for me...because that's the kind of person he is. The narcissist should know he's at a disadvantage, of course. Only a fool would agree to━

Naru jounced his head without a beat. "Fine by me."

I gawked at him.

_Oh kami-sama, is he an idiot? Gah! So frustrating! How can he decide so fast? This arrogant narcissist!_

I deflected my eyes and warned, "Even if you have your way, I won't change my mind. I'm just a prize for you, right?"

He didn't give a comeback, but he scowled.

_Oh well, I have confidence with Claude anyway._

He was probably wondering where I went then.

_He won't leave the airport just like that!_

I glimpsed at the time on the dashboard's digital clock.

10:58 am..._There's still time before the flight!_

Praying, I crossed my fingers.

_Please be there, Claude!_

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When Naru pulled over the parking lot near Terminal 2's entrance, I asked for his cellphone. Although reticent, he lent his device to me. Subsequently, I got out and tugged him along superciliously; if I wasn't so preoccupied with the thought of Claude, I would have spared time to complain about the handcuffs.

Standing outside Naru's car, I dialed Claude's number briskly. Then I waited.

_Please answer, please answer, please answer!_

Naru had his right hand dug inside his pants' pocket while I ran a mantra in my head. It seemed like he was hiding our strange fastener━although there wasn't anybody looking at our wrists. Anyway, I tried not to mind him too much, nor his louring.

Many rings later, there was finally a beep and a shuffle.

_Yes!_

"Hel━"

"Claude!" I gasped in relief and then leered at Naru.

Claude's astounded voice redirected my attention. "Mai, where are━?"

"I'm at the parking lot! I was chasing a vending robot, and I unthinkingly went outside!" I lied with a disapproving glimpse at Naru. "_**Where**_ are you?"

Claude suspired for a second and chuckled. "You chased a vending robot? You really have funny adventures, Mai. Anyway, I'm outside the girls' washroom. I thought you're━"

"Ok, hang on! I'm coming to you!"

I hung up and returned Naru's phone. Next, glancing at my shackled left hand, I reminded, "We had a deal. Now, unlock me. I know you have the spare key."

Naru didn't sass, and he didn't peek at me. His eyes were downcast, and he'd gripped his cellphone with his left hand.

_How does it feel Naru, to not get what you want? It's infuriating, right? It's bitter, right? Why did you agree to the deal when the result is obvious? How can you even believe everything will be in your favor?_

_Your pride would always━_

He finally got his right hand out of his pants' pocket, and I saw him clenching it too, as though he was griping something inside his fingers and palm. Nevertheless, I didn't bother to inquire because I didn't want to be nagged by thoughts of him when I'm in Osaka.

"Hurry, please," I pressed. "Our boarding time is near!"

Shrugging, he brought our linked wrists up, and after staring at the handcuffs for a second, there was a familiar click.

"Good!"

I didn't bother to ask why he used his power instead. I didn't bother to care if he'd be alright. And I wasn't thinking of saying goodbye again.

I only had my goals in mind: to find Claude and go with him to Osaka...and I will forget that Naru had even asked me to be with him...or said that he's smitten with me many days prior.

I yanked my hand off, and I broke free easily. Thereupon, however, I had jerked Naru's right hand with my haste.

And I involuntarily noticed it unclasping...

Before long, something dropped and rolled on the ground near us, and then my eyes became stuck to it in reminiscence...

And everything about going to Claude...to Osaka...was momentarily wiped out of my mind.

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I once dreamt of becoming a flying bird. I wanted to see and feel what it's like floating...soaring above in the sky and staring at the view below. So, I loved the heights. I loved the swings that could take me in midair and help me pretend I was touching the clouds. I loved feathers and donned shirts with sleeves trailing like wings. I loved the thought of reaching the farthest places on earth with my pseudo-alate arms.

I thought it was a very good dream compared to other children of my age before who wished to be doctors or astronauts, and I did try to live like a bird during my kindergarten years.

But the dream could never be real.

I could never become a bird. I could never fly even with artificial wings.

The dream never became real.

John had said many days prior...that my love for Naru is real because I tried to be selfless...A human's love wasn't perfect...because humans were not perfect.

He'd said that...

And now, with such a big turnover from Naru's self-centeredness a while ago...Now that Naru was ready to accept his defeat by letting me go...

I was once more prodded...I was once more offered the thought...that Naru's love might be real.

The idea...just the suggestion that the ideal━the dream━might have become real...That dreams could become real...was such a contradiction to my past experiences. You see, ever since I was a child, my dreams had never come true. I was always disappointed. I was accustomed to just dreaming...never _**actualizing**_...because there's always the disparity between imagination and reality that I couldn't just seem to break down.

So...I believed that everything I would dream about would never be real, and I just had to deal with it with a smile.

I just had to _**move on**_.

Reciprocation of my love━just like other dreams I had━could never become real.

Yet...at that moment in the parking lot...what I'd believed for such a long time...was being challenged.

Naru told me he loves me after he just learned about Claude. He kissed me at the hospital although he knew he shouldn't have, and then he didn't even visit me afterwards. Next, he showed up at the airport and abducted me. All in all, he's a persistent person who does what he pleases.

Yet...he's imperfect like me.

And as I stared at the jade ring which Naru and I had won last May...at the symbol of "successful love"...I was reminded of my past self: the one who was chasing Naru so fervently...so one-sidedly. I was reminded of the me before Claude changed me. Of the me who believed anything before Claude made me skeptical of everything.

Of the me who'd believed Naru's words like a firm follower.

The anamnesis of my past self...the remembrance of who I was two months before...plunged my hardened heart and softened it.

Because the jade ring which fell on the asphalt ground wasn't mine. I had locked my own, its twin, in a remote corner in my room at Obaa-san's mansion. I had locked mine away ever since...I renounced my first love.

And...for Naru to hold on to his own...For him to...vise it with his right hand a few seconds previously in what I realized was probably an act of prayer...I discovered another thing; just as I was being sadistic in a way to Naru, the person I was truly hurting the most...was neither Claude nor Naru. The person I couldn't forgive the most wasn't Naru.

It was myself.

I was...punishing myself unknowingly for believing that Naru would love me back. I deeply hated myself because I'd thought that dreams could become real when it usually never did...that I was opposing my own beliefs and the reality in the world...So I'd convinced myself that the only way I could redeem my mistake...was to be with someone who wouldn't _**make me dream**_ but make me feel real happiness...a world without hurt...even if I could not love that person back as much as I love Naru.

_Because I cannot escape reality, I just have to acquiesce..._

Gradually, I ogled at Naru and saw him eyeing the jade ring too. His glazing orbs...seemed contrite and forlorn despite his frosty expression. After a while, as though someone snapped fingers in front of his face, he shifted and straightened himself. Then he had on dim, lackluster, and hooded eyes...that one after I quizzed him during the Urado case if he'd ever known how it felt like to die...

I really wanted to believe, you know? I really, really tried to keep dreaming that Naru would love me back. I'd really deemed that there's hope for the both of us.

That his feelings for me would change.

But reality illustrated again how the phantasm could never come true. I...started seeing reality again because of Claude. I...started accepting reality again because of Claude.

Yet why...why, despite how real Claude's love is for me...

Why was I still wishing that Naru's dubious love is real? How could I stick to what's ideal in spite of the reality proffered to me? How could I...continue dreaming?

Why only now did his feelings change? Why only now that I'd been already convinced that his insouciant feelings for me would never alter?

The jade ring was just a ring...It was just a ring with superstitions imbibed in it.

So why...did I still want to consider that Naru and I will have a "successful love"? Why couldn't my heart just give up on this sliver of hope?

Still disoriented, I finally spoke in a hushed tone, "You heard her...You heard Obaa-san that night?"

Naru regarded me in inexplicable stupor. "What?"

He had a car, so of course, he could have caught up to where I was going (I just ran home after all) that special May day. He might have arrived even before I did, and he was probably outside of the room during my conversation with Obaa-san.

But that's not the point. The point was that he'd recalled...

So he brought the jade ring with him on that summer day in the airport.

The Naru whom I'd thought would never believe in such things.

The Naru that's not Naru anymore.

I tried to hide my faltering emotions as I uttered throatily, "About that ring...You heard Obaa-san on that night that you showed me the meteor showers?"

When I'd confronted Obaa-san last May...when she told me about the meaning of the butterfly carvings on the jade...He most likely heard her perfectly.

Naru had an unintelligible visage, but he didn't affirm nor deny it.

Why...? Why was he always so late? Yet why...was I still drawn to him?

Kami-sama...

_If I will do something my past self will approve of and my present self will confute at, will it be a mistake?_

_If I...will be true to my heart again and not to my mind...will it be worth it?_

I drew my breath and succussed my head.

_Silly Mai, how would you know it's a mistake if you haven't committed it in the first place?_

For the final time, I swiveled and walked away.

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What John said━I finally understood.

_Humans are not perfect...The heart is not perfect..._

And the mind too.

I couldn't do it.

I still couldn't.

_I'm sorry..._

_I'm sorry..._

_I'm sorry, Obaa-san. No matter how I broadened my horizon, Naru still pervaded the great expanse of my heart..._

_I'm sorry, Claude...I'm sorry I couldn't move on with you yet. I'm sorry...that I have to do this...that I have to hurt you._

My mind was raving. It was shrieking inwardly as it lost its control over my body and heart. My body had moved in its own accord, and my heart had ruled once more...

My mind numbing, I sighed. _I give up resisting. _

_Screw it, Kami-sama._

I bent down and picked up Naru's jade ring. Then I straightened and handed it to him.

He was utterly bemused. "Mai━"

"Underwear..." I murmured, bowing in abashment.

He blinked at me. "What?"

Flushing and glaring, I perked up at him. "Underwear! I don't even have extra underwears!"

Naru eyed me with a very once-in-a-blue-moon open-mouthed expression.

Frantically and wildly, I waved my hands. "I don't have my wallet nor my cellphone! I don't have extra clothes! I left them with Claude! Can you even understand how it feels? I anticipated the peaceful and relaxing days with him! I anticipated waking up and not seeing you!"

His jaw clenched, but he didn't retort. His dark hair was still disheveled from running...most likely nonstop to reach me. A part of his shirt collar was even standing up, and one of his shirt cuff was unbuttoned. His sable clothes might appear well-groomed from afar, but at close view, there were creases on his shirt and pants━probably results of the struggle he had with me earlier.

Anyway...

For the first time, Naru was far from the neat-looking person he ordinarily is.

_Because of me...huh?_

"You always get what you want, right? You always win! All you think about is yourself!" I scolded.

Quite...miffed, he shunted his head, but rather than to me, I could feel that he was more peeved with himself.

Because his precious pride was downtrodden again...He threw away his pride just to stop me, but all the odds were against him.

_Idiot scientist._

I ran a shaky hand through my hair and breathed deeply.

Then I slapped him.

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Normally, anyone who was slapped would be shocked. When I slapped Naru, on the contrary, he glared at me...

Yet he had the uncharacteristic dejected look again afterwards and avoided my gaze.

I stretched my arms and spun to my side and stared at the sky with a hand shielding my eyes. "Ah-ah, that slap felt good~~ Don't you think, idiot scientist?"

I sounded like a sadist, which I admit I might be after all.

He frowned, but he still averted his eyes.

I admired my somehow hot and stinging hand, the one I used to slap him. "I'm still not contented though."

So...I neared him, cupped his cheeks with both of my hands (to which he oddly flinched), and turned his face to me, eye-to-eye.

"Just two weeks," I agreed.

Enlightened, his eyes widened a little as I resolutely inspected him face-to-face but tried to be emotionless or cool about it.

"Mai, you━"

"I'll be with you for two weeks," I intercepted and added, "but within that time, prove that your love for me is real."

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Claude was fighting for me. Despite knowing that I still love Naru, he fought for me. He had never let me go. He made me happy. He fought for our happiness together.

And now...

It's time for me to fight for him. To fight for our happiness.

And fighting for it...would entail...

Defeating the person who stood in our way.

I understood...I could understand Naru's self-regard then...Because I was selfish too...yet Naru had still let me be with him before...Right then, it was time for me...

"I can't become like that guy, Mai."

I released him and elevated an eyebrow. _What? He's not confident? How rare! _

I crossed my arms. "I'm not expecting you to be nice or sweet to me. You've never explicitly been like that. Just be yourself as always...and prove your love to me in your own way."

_Well...he's actually been explicitly nice...and sweet...sometimes, but I won't tell him that. _

Naru had a pensive view at me, and I arched my eyebrow higher at his delayed response.

"That is sound," he at last riposted with a nod, "but there's one more thing..."

I pouted and un-crossed my arms. "How many conditions are there, honestly? If there's more, I'll take it ba━"

"Just one more: for two weeks, call me by my name."

I blinked at him.

"I do call you by your name."

He loured. "You don't. You call me by a nickname you made yourself."

"That's━"

"Call me by my name. Please."

The 'P' word again. _He's really a pain in the arse!_

I put my hands on my hips. "Why does it matter now? You used to not care."

He pursed his lips. "You always call that guy by his first name."

I twinkled. _H-he's jealous for such a...small thing?_

_How...cute._

"F-fine...Oriberu?" I reddened.

I meant "Oliver," but...Ack. My English pronunciation was still mortifyingly terrible. Crimson-cheeked, I diverted my attention to the lint on his black blazer...

Naru had broadened his eyes a little and deflected them while covering his mouth.

_Wha━? Is he laughing?_

Fazed, I frowned. "W-what? I'm not used to it!"

He shrugged, still not looking at me. "It's weird..."

Well...that's true.

"K-Kazuya then...?" I flushed and grumbled, "Mohh, it's long."

Indeed, it was the first time I'd called him by his first Japanese name...and...I felt...a little closer to him.

Somehow.

Although I could barely see his whole expression, I observed a ghost of a smile forming. He seemed pleased, and his eyes glistened.

But I added quickly in recovery, "And in exchange for calling you so casually, you'll do whatever I want."

"Yes," he conceded without even thinking deeply.

"Just two weeks," I reminded conditionally. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"Yeah..."

_I would be very difficult._

I knew that what I'd decided out of nowhere would hurt Claude, but the only way I could stop being half-hearted with Claude was for me to really make sure Naru's love for me isn't real.

And when I proved that it isn't real...I could finally eliminate this hope...

So...if that was a big mistake, it would be for me to decide afterwards.

In his left hand, Naru's cellphone rang again, and I spotted the number popping up.

_Claude..._

I snatched Naru's phone and denied Claude's call. Then, I started texting:

_Claude...it's me, Mai._

_I...can't come with you to Osaka right now. I'm sorry! (T.T) I promise I will pay you for the trip. I...will come back to you after two weeks. But for now, please trust me. There is a favor I must return, so...please wait for me. I am in good hands, so please...trust in me._

I had to do it, so I nibbled my lip as I pressed the send button. If I worded it wrong...If I texted it wrong...I didn't want to look back.

Afterwards, I turned off Naru's phone before giving it back to him.

"I won't call anyone, and you won't call anyone. It's just the two of us, understand?"

There was comprehension in his eyes, and after a few seconds, he jounced his head. "Yeah..."

_This will be the last._

_It'll be your last chance, Naru..._

He didn't lift a corner of his mouth to show that he was gratified of my decision, and I preferred it that way.

Because at least he knew what I was doing...

Why I did that to his phone...

_**Who **I'm staking with my decision._

If he'd fleered, I might have punched him at that instance, changed my mind, and hightailed inside the airport...to Claude...But he'd probably speculated that in his ingenious head, so he kept his satisfaction to himself and just showed me a reserved countenance.

I suspired and frowned with hands on my hips afresh. "Well?"

He quirked his eyebrow, and I soughed.

"Aren't you going to take me away?"

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

"Does it still hurt?" I asked while twiddling my thumbs on my lap as I sat beside Naru in his car.

He side-glanced at me, but I could espy his other cheek swelling a bit and a little like sinopia. "I'm fine."

I nipped my lip. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged and lifted a corner of his mouth slightly. "Shouldn't you be saying that I deserved it?"

I shrugged too and loured. "You do, but...I don't really love hurting people, you know?"

He was voiceless, and I chose to watch the road ahead.

I could feel the heat, yet my blood was cold. So many times I had shifted on my seat, but I couldn't just seem to be still in mind and body.

_Kami-sama, is Claude alright? What face did he make when he received my text message? Is he...red with anger? Does he hate me now? Is he shouting my name...calling me an idiot...cussing?_

"I'll turn around if you want."

I blinked at Naru with expanded eyes. _What is he saying now?_

Unbelievable!

"No!" I exclaimed, and he rubbernecked at me in strange befuddlement. So, fidgeting, I disclosed, "Claude...I don't want to see him hurt, and I'm tired of all this chasing."

I sighed, and Naru tried to be remorseful.

"I see...Sorry..."

I arched an eyebrow. "You don't look sorry at all."

He shrugged before admitting, "Yes..."

"Don't be, or I'll punch your handsome face," I threatened, and he smiled a little.

"I thought you don't like hurting people."

"I don't like hurting people _**sometimes**_," I fleered wilily.

_As much as everyone denies it...it's human nature to feel satisfaction with hurting people sometimes..._

_And I am not an exception._

_But I don't want to hurt Claude like this...What am I supposed to do?_

Naru just shrugged, and my stomach groaned. His fleeting look confirmed that he heard it too.

Chagrined and beet red, I demanded, "Take me somewhere to eat. NOW."

I still had two weeks to wrap Naru around my finger.

Mercilessly.

...Maybe.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

After about 40 minutes of nagging, Naru parked his car in Parking Lot 4 of LaLaport Tokyo Bay Shopping Park. (I'd never been to Funabashi or Chiba before, but I'd heard about the shopping center many years back.)

Some buildings were painted in orange, flesh, and dirty white. From the topmost part of what appeared to be the tallest building, the roof structure was built like the upper part of a blue bottle of a long-necked mouthwash.

After riding the elevator, we entered the south part of the ground floor. There were a lot of people, and I could guess that they were all there mostly to take advantage of the air conditioning indoors. Diverse food smells lunged my nose and reinforced my hunger, so I pointed to the nearest store I fancied.

"Buy me donuts there," I commanded to Naru as I pointed to the Krispy Kreme store on the left of what they called Harbor Street.

Naru scanned the store in askance. "There's a more proper meal than that, Ma━"

I pouted. "I don't care. _**I want it.**_ Get me some."

Yup, impudence leveled up.

He shot me a wry look, and I returned it with fervor.

"You said you'll do whatever I want, right, _**Kazuya-kun**_~~?" I cited in a singsong voice.

I grinned insolently, and he suspired. Wordlessly he wended to the store, and I followed him and pointed to him what I want. With a shrug, he paid for it.

"Thanks," I said after he handed the donut, and we started walking again.

He pursed his lips. "After you finish that, let's━"

"Ah! There's KFC! I want to eat fries and drink mango Krushers!"

And so I hurled him there against his will. Recurrently, I ordered, and he paid. Consequently, his frown deepened.

"You should get some for yourself too, you know," I suggested and consumed my donut entirely.

"I'm fine." He handed me my new requests just after I'd finished cleaning my cinnamon-coated lips and hands with a tissue.

"Ah, can you unwrap the straw for me and hold the Krushers?" I ordered, and he loured at my outstretched arm.

"You can do it yourself, Mai."

I pouted. "What? I'm going to hold the fries and eat, so can't you just do such a simple thing? Claude always lends me a hand."

"I'm not Murakami-san," he pointed out.

I huffed. "I know you're not. Honestly..."

I pulled my hand back and spun around in frustration.

"I'll show off my bare legs and go hitch a ride with somebody more caring━"

He grabbed my arm to stop me, and I glowered at him. Sighing and shrugging, he took the drink and the wrapped straw and did what I told him to do.

After he finished, I said, "See? It's not that hard, right?"

"There's a restaurant ahead. Let's go and━"

I chucked two fries in his mouth and giggled at his squinting eyes. "I don't want to~"

And I skipped to Folli Follie to check out their jewelries and accessories.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

It was a small and very bright store. The walls were mostly creamy but had red-painted parts. Bags were placed on shelves, and their jewelries were glass-encased on top of honeydew islands with red surfaces.

"It's cute..." I murmured as I sipped my drink and bent over a pendant consisting of diamond hearts arranged as flower petals. Since eating was not allowed in there, I'd consumed my fries in a hurry (and chucked a handful in Naru's mouth too━making him glower at me like a demon) before entering.

Naru, standing closely, inquired, "You like these things?"

I straightened and shook my head. "Nope. I just like staring at them. They're too expensive, and if I buy one, I'm afraid I'll just lose it. I don't want to wear sparkling things anyway."

"Even if somebody gave you one?"

I nictated and chortled.

He looked at me with confusion.

Stopping myself, I explained, "Nobody has ever given me such, and I never asked anyone to. Claude also knows I don't like possessing them, so he takes me to places rather than give me glittering gifts..."

_Claude..._

I bit my lip. _What is he doing now? Is he still looking for me? Did he eat lunch already?_

_Does he...hate me now?_

I somehow lost my appetite, so I gave Naru my Krushers. "I'm good already, so finish this. You must be thirsty, right?"

He narrowed his eyes at the cup.

"What?" I jutted my lower lip.

"You can throw it, Mai."

I huffed in disbelief. "No way! It's such a waste!"

"Then finish it."

"Wha━! I don't want it anymore, so take it." I placed the cup in his hand.

He frowned at it.

"What? It's not like it'll kill you."

"It's not that."

"What then?" I put my hands on my hips.

"The straw..."

"Ha? Straw?" I blinked and pursed my lips. "I don't have a virus or anything, you know? Sheesh, how rude...Hmph."

"I'll just throw it, Mai."

"Honestly! Is it such a big deal to drink through the same straw? Claude and I always do it!"

He glared at me, and I glared back.

_What's up with him?_

"Umm...can I help you?" It was the saleslady.

With a fake smile, I said, "No, thank you."

With another glare at Naru, I snatched the Krushers and walked away angrily.

Claude wouldn't be so wasteful. If Claude was there...I nipped my lip and soughed.

_What am I doing? Why...How can I leave him like this?_

I couldn't understand myself. I knew Naru would never be like Claude...but why...Why would I give Naru a chance like that? He couldn't even care for what I care about...So why...did I leave Claude just for him?

_I love Naru...but he's not...Claude._

_Maybe I should hitch a ride after all. Claude probably hadn't eaten anything yet! How could I be enjoying like this?_

"Mai." Naru held my arm to stall me again, and I shot katanas at him.

"Let me go. I'm going back to Claude," I gritted out.

"You already agreed━"

"I take it back! We'll never work out, Naru. That's the reality, and doing something like this will just hurt others."

"If it's about the drink━"

"It's not about that." I jabbed his chest with my index finger. "It's you. You don't show that you care about me at all."

It was a lie...but I couldn't think of anything else.

"I'm not like that guy, Mai."

"I know that, yet you won't even try to be nice to me at all? Do you think telling me things bluntly will make me believe you love me? Call me twisted or reverse in thought, but if you love me, you'll do something nice to me even if it's contrary to your nature."

He didn't reply but just looked away.

Was I being harsh? But...

Claude was probably running all around the airport to look for me, yet I came with the narcissist and agreed to his whims. I felt...horrible...like a praying mantis killing her mate. If Naru and I would be together...we would just be fighting all the time. On the other hand, Claude could make me happy, so I should stop expecting for Naru to change his attitude to me.

Sighing, I ran my free hand through my hair. I somehow would fancy a seat to relax...The heat was getting to me, but I wouldn't tell the narcissist that...And he'd become quite silent too...

"Just take me back, Naru. It'll all make things easier for the both of us."

"No." He looked at me with orbs lit with persistence.

I frowned. "You know...What if you're just misunderstanding something? Loving me...What if it's just your competitiveness working? You only told me that you love me after you knew about Claude."

"I knew it beforehand."

"Knew what? That you love me? Didn't seem like it. Your work is more important than me, so how could I even compete? Besides, you even lied to me about your meeting with Masako."

I was getting carried away, so I realized I said too much when he blinked at me.

"Hara-san? What are you talking about?"

I shrugged. _Is he feigning it? Well, whatever._

"Well, that's why you lied to me last May, right? A few days after solving the case in my school? About meeting your parents? I saw you and Masako, and I realized that you love her very much to lie to me. Ah...maybe you're just _**displacing**_ your feelings for her to me right now. That's more reasonable, don't you think?"

If I was like before...I might have croaked it out, and the pain would have been intolerable. But I was way past that hurtful event already.

I'd moved on from that...I think.

Naru narrowed his eyes. "There's nothing between me and Hara-san, Mai. She━"

I joggled my head. "You don't have to explain. I'm not interested of the past or what really happened. You love her, not me. That's that, so let me go."

He didn't when I tried to evulse my arm out.

"I'm not smitten with her," he insisted, and I kept my blush in check.

Although that makes me happy...I just...didn't know what to believe anymore.

"How can you be sure?" I questioned in a venomous tone. "You're always nice to her. You always go out with her, so how can you not love her when you give that much attention to her?"

His eyes glinted in awareness... "Are you...jealous?"

I shrugged. _Well...there's really no point in hiding it. _"Yes, I _**was**_."

His eyes glistened, and it's that kind of eyes again...His "smiling eyes."

"You have nothing to worry about. I'm not smitten with her," he reiterated.

"I'm not worried. I'm thankful that I saw you two and gave up on you. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have come to notice my surroundings. I wouldn't have started to like somebody else."

He clenched his jaw and shunted his head before examining me with an ambiguous gaze.

"Give me time...to change."

"How much time should we waste when it's futile? If you let me go, you can live a peaceful life as always, and you don't have to change anything. Isn't that dandy? You need to learn when to give up too, you know? Not everything we want we can get after all."

My head was spinning in the spiral of indecisiveness Naru had put me into, and I had become impulsive. It was short, but it was time to go back to firm ground.

"You're...really enamored with that guy?" He reluctantly and slowly released me.

"_**That guy**_ has a name, and it's Claude. And yes, I am. Not as much as I love you, but he makes me happy. He cares for me, and I can see how sincere he is. Besides, feelings change. _**My feelings**_ will change."

I shot him a hard glom and sighed. How could I be so foolish? Agreeing so suddenly and then not...I shouldn't be with Naru.

I knew that, right?

I shoved the mango Krushers in his hand, turned around, and left him there.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

Mulling over, I sat on a bench under a palm tree after asking a lot of people to lend me their phone. Nobody would allow me, so I resigned; I was mentally and physically exhausted.

_I need to pay just to call..._

No money or cellphone...It was like the end of the world...

I suspired and decided to look around to cheer myself up. LaLaport was radiant inside. The walls were painted ivory. The curved ceiling made of glass panels was high enough for the palm trees in the middle of the walkway not to be able to reach or damage it. Flags of other countries could be seen hanging above the third floor, and some plants were dangling by the balconies. Truly, the place appropriately exuded the summery ambiance.

Looking down at my feet and at the corner of my left eye, I saw someone sit beside me.

I closed my eyes. "Ah-ah, and I walked as far away as possible too."

"I didn't throw it."

_The Krushers?_

"Right..."

"I drank everything."

"You paid for it anyway, so how was it?"

"It was sweet."

"Well, duh."

There was a pause, and then...

"I'm sorry," Naru initiated.

I opened my eyes and scowled. "For what? For always making me angry? For making me cry? For being dense? For forcing me to be with you? For what are you apologizing for?"

"For everything." I could feel his stare on me, but I didn't turn my head.

I pursed my lips and looked the opposite way. "That kind of scale is impossible."

"Give...me another chance, Mai."

"Whoa...You've never begged like this! Playing hard-to-get is really something, huh."

He soughed and I pouted.

"Hmmm..." Aloud, I mused, "If I tell you to forget everything that happened between us and just act like I haven't known you for a long time...If I tell you to act like an uncaring boss, will you do it?"

He was silent.

"Work should be about impersonalization, right?"

"Reality is different."

I finally turned to him. "How so? Isn't it easier not to care for somebody than doing otherwise? Isn't that why you never cared?"

His gaze was inscrutable...but painful to look at.

I couldn't understand. How could he look at me...with emotion in his eyes? How...did a stoic none-of-my-business guy...become...soft?

I shunted my head.

"You shouldn't have cared, or this mess wouldn't happen."

"It isn't a mess."

"What made you change your mind then? You're bored, right? This is just a temporary entertainment, right? When you said you love me, it was just a bait to fish me, right? Will I get a raise for cooperating, _**Boss**_?"

Point-blank, I stared at him, and he glared at me.

"Whoa...Your eyes are really skilled at that."

He looked away, and he breathed, "Give me...time."

For once, he appeared...pitiful...which made me want to tease him.

"And if I won't? Will you fetter me again?"

He peered at me and unhesitantly replied, "Yes."

"Pervert."

His eyes shone with amusement. "That's an interesting view."

"Fettering me to a bed wasn't the end of it, huh?"

"That was for precaution, but you still got away."

"That sounds as if I'm a fugitive. Oh well, we're digressing. My point is that you should just let me go."

"Nothing good happened when I did."

"Oh? And what happened exactly?" I smirked.

He peered at me with intensity like a magnet. "You almost died."

There was a spark somewhere. A spark which I'd thought was already extinguished when I saw him with Masako that May day...when I decided to give up on him.

I averted my chocolate orbs. "So you mean, you don't want to take anything for granted anymore? That's why you started caring?"

"Sharing things like drinking through one straw...I'm just not used to it."

I snorted. "Right...You just don't like it."

"...Yes."

I sighed. "I know...I'm being forceful, and I'm fickle...Not wanting and wanting you to change for me."

There was voicelessness, so I pondered about everything...

_Gahhhh. I'm such an idiot._

Looking at my sneakers, I started, "I want to believe that you love me back, but it's not that easy anymore."

Trying to read minds, we stared at each other...Trying to decipher what's real and not.

I diverted my eyes, though, and said randomly, "You're really weird."

"Yes."

I laughed a little. "You should deny that, you know?"

"It's best not to lie." He shrugged, and I couldn't help smiling as I sighed.

"Ah-ah, why did I fall for an idiot scientist?"

"Because I'm good-looking." Him saying it with an uncharacteristic unruly hair was hilarious. Not that he appeared less handsome...His punk look was just...

Oh well, what he stated wasn't the reason, but I didn't say so.

"Tsk! You're still a narcissist." _I love you...that's why you look handsome to me._

He smiled scantily. "Perhaps."

"You are."

I suspired and swung my feet up and down while holding the edge of my seat. "Ahhhh, maybe I'll become a Catholic nun and assist John."

"You're not even Catholic."

"I can convert. Besides, I'll pray for your salvation from narcissism."

He glared at me, and I jutted my lip. "What?"

He shrugged. "I don't want you to become one."

"Tsk. It's my decision, not yours."

"I can't be with you if you become a nun."

"Even right now, you can't be with me."

He was taciturn, but I knew...he was refuting what I said inside his mind. So I drew out a breath again.

"...It's not that easy, Naru. In order to be with you, I'm hurting Claude. These two weeks we'll have together? It's a borrowed time. Ah, no. 'Borrowed' isn't even a fitting term. You're _**'stealing'**_ this time from Claude, and you know what makes it so difficult? I'm letting you steal it because I still irrevocably, idiotically love you."

He stared at me, and I sighed. "Happy?"

"Sorry."

_He's apologizing too much today... _"I'm not the one you should apologize to right now; it's Claude, and...I'm also at fault."

I withdrew a heavy breath and pointed my heels on the floor.

"You were right; I already agreed. I should...see through things until the end."

He just examined me.

We sat there without talking for a while, but inwardly, our thoughts were at war and very clamorous.

I...was tired. Thinking about emotional things, being guilty, being nonplussed...Everything in me was short-circuiting.

All I wanted was a hassle-free vacation. Somehow, at that moment, I realized I didn't care with whom I'd spend it with anymore. I mean, I'd just been through a very tough paranormal case for heaven's sake(!), and then all these love complications just popped out and gave me heart attack and mind wreckage. It's overkill!

And I wasn't even deciding for marriage yet!

I just wanted a vacation, darn it! I just wanted to be happy throughout my two weeks' leave!

Spending my day off with someone who deeply cares about me was just another plus in it. It might sound bad, but it's the truth. I just wanted to relax with somebody I want to be with. I just wanted to stop thinking of all problems for once.

Was that too much to ask?

I sighed, and there was a click.

"Your hands are really fast." I frowned at our fastened wrists.

"I will free you after a decent meal."

I narrowed my eyes. "I doubt that."

But I was jaded...Being difficult just took a toll in my emotional and mental capacity. Even though I feel perturbed being with Naru, I...I'm just drained of pacing to and fro without progress.

I had to stop doing things only half-way through, so...I stood up and let him lead me to an escalator.

"I can do without the handcuffs. I'm not a dog, you know?" I finally complained.

He jounced his head as we stalled on the escalator. "You're a cat."

"I'm not," I defended but without much energy, and he lifted a corner of his mouth.

"More like a tigress, I guess."

I made a moue with my mouth, and he just smiled that meager smile of his. Really, he was smiling a lot that I couldn't just seem to become indignant at him!

"What's up with that? Buying me with a rare expression...So crafty," I murmured with a shrug.

Yet...I did observe...that his smiles reached his eyes that day. Honestly, I just couldn't hate him entirely.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

Since I didn't know where else to go, I let Naru take me to a ramen shop.

"I'd thought you would prefer classy foreign foods," I commented after a waiter gave us copies of the menu and took our orders.

"All food turns out the same when digested," he replied smartly as he sat across me, still handcuffed to him.

The restaurant was narrow. The black tables and stools were lined up on the middle, and there were dangling light bulbs illuminating the room. The walls were in a deep shade of brown, and the floor was quite a mocha shade.

"It's good that there aren't that much people..."

"Yeah." Naru stood up, and I blinked at him. I didn't even notice that he'd unlocked the handcuffs again. The somber expression on his face showed a sense of urgency.

"Are you going somewhere?"

He hesitated before saying, "It's...nature's calling."

I blushed, looked away, and giggled. "Okay."

_Was he restraining it all this time?_

He nodded and left for the men's washroom.

_This is the first time I heard him excuse himself for that..._

I beamed and then shrugged. Soon, I rested the side of my head on the edge of the table.

_Ahh, what should I do?_

I banged my head on the table and made a louder noise than I intended, so I hastily apologized to the neighboring tables as I massaged my head. Trying not to think about anything, I waited for Naru to return, but twenty minutes or so had passed. Even when our food (two bowls of pork ramen with lobster broth and a plate full of gyoza) and orange tea had arrived, he still didn't come back.

I fidgeted on my seat and began thinking that he left me there...I bit my lip and mused.

Was he...angry after all? I had kept on saying that he should return me to Claude...Maybe he left already...Maybe he...got sick of my complaints...

I frowned. _If he left, how easy for him then! And here I'd thought he'd endure..._

"You haven't started yet?"

I perked up and glared at Naru's solemn face.

"What took you so long?"

He shrugged and replied so honestly, "There was no toilet paper."

I nictated and became scarlet. "Hah? You detonated your bomb already? You didn't even eat that much a while ago."

A corner of his lips upturned, he seated himself across me and linked the two of us with handcuffs again; somehow, it was becoming normal... "That is an interesting use of analogy."

"Whatever. (Hey, can you eat with your left hand?) Were you retouching your make-up or something? Or were you playing?"

He seemed tickled by the thought. "Playing?"

"Yeah, like those things you boys do in the washroom to see who shoots it higher..." I blushed.

_Gah! WHAT AM I SAYING?_

Naru was deeply intrigued. "Shoot _**what**_ higher?"

"Nothing! Let's eat!" I hastily replied and picked up my chopsticks. "Ahh, I'm so hungry. It took you half an hour, you know? Sheesh, you know you shouldn't make girls wait..."

He just shrugged, and I waited for him to pick his chopsticks and start swirling his ramen before I began my wicked plan.

"Ah, shall I tell you a scary story?"

He raised an eyebrow, but I didn't wait for him to reply.

"Okay, it goes like this: One day, a narcissist was going home..."

He narrowed his eyes at me, and I chuckled. "It's not you, alright! Anyway, a self-loving guy was on his way home when he heard footsteps from behind. He bravely turned around, but there was no one there. Thinking it's just his paranoia working, he traipsed ahead. The footsteps were audible again, so he turned again. There's still no one there, so frightened, he ran all the way to his home..."

I paused, and Naru sipped his tea and waited for me to continue. I had used my chopsticks to make a small disturbance in my ramen for dramatization.

"Then...when he was opening the gate to his house, someone called his name! He instinctively turned around, and from that moment on, he wouldn't go out unless he had a mask on." I pincered a pork cutlet and tossed it in my mouth.

Naru squinted his eyes at me. "It's not a scary story."

"Yesh, it ish," I averred as I munched.

"What's scary then?"

I swallowed and started a whirlpool in my broth.

"Well...what do you think happened to the narcissist?" I beamed feloniously.

He shrugged. "Someone assaulted him."

"Nope. Someone..." I halted as he bit one gyoza.

He raised an eyebrow at me as he chewed too, so I continued, "Someone threw poop on his face~"

Naru stopped chewing, and I laughed and moved my eyebrows up and down while waving my chopsticks. "It's scary, right? You should stop being a narcissist, or you'll get targeted~"

He gave me the evil eye, and I giggled. He resumed eating anyway, as though to prove he wasn't that affected.

"You like those kind of stories?" he queried after he ingested what he'd chewed.

"Not really. It just fits the situation."

He sighed.

"Whaaat?"

He tipped his head to the side and peered at me obliquely. "It's just like you."

I beamed, and he stared away at a distance. It was just like when we're in SPR HQ; he would suddenly be lost in space while reading━probably thinking of something I could not comprehend. The way his fringe hangs over his eyes...the way his mouth parts slightly as though he wanted to say something to the air...the way he bows down and closes his eyes as though to shrug off an idea...

I'd been watching him all this time...even until that day. I was always...watching him...although I shouldn't. My eyes...They just wouldn't break free, huh?

Ah...

I...just wanted to give him a chance...that's all.

_I'm sorry, Claude...for being such a bad person...For swaying like this..._

If my eyes would still be stuck to Naru after two weeks...I think I would need some high-level counseling.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

After we ate, we strolled around the stores again to ease our stomachs. We went down to the ground floor once more, and Naru halted just below a palm tree.

"What's wrong?"

Naru had been glancing behind him ever since we started lumbering inside the mall. It was like some scary mascot would pop out and scare the hell out of us━though I doubt he'd be scared of that.

"Nothing..." was his rejoinder, somewhat late.

I made a face. "You're acting like a paranoid, you know? Did you do something fishy? Like a violation in the bathroom? Stole some toilet paper?"

He sighed. "No."

"What's up, then?"

There was a click, and I raised an eyebrow at him. He was mute, so I blinked at him and tsk-ed. "Quite a miracle. You really did what you promised."

"I always do."

"Hmmm. I wonder," I teased as I massaged my liberated wrist.

He shrugged and put his cellphone on my right palm.

I batted my eyelids in puzzlement. "What━?"

"Use that while waiting. I already called Murakami-san. You'll meet him here as planned. You can return it after your trip."

My eyes widened, and everything made sense.

_So...it's like this...huh._

What face did I make? I couldn't meet his eyes after knowing what he'd done. I couldn't show him my face...because my facade would slip and reveal a countenance that gave away my dissatisfaction.

So I briskly looked at the floor and said, "I see. That's great then!"

I tried to be cheerful, but I couldn't seem to fool myself.

_He's giving up, right? That was fast. Haha. I knew it. It would be like this. Why did I even ex━Wait. Why should I expect something? The two weeks' deal was just a reality check, right? There's no other meaning, right? What did I expect to gain from it again? I'm so..._

"I'll be going...Mai."

I nodded, and he walked away...But I saw his eyes...

_Why...are they looking so sad?_

His back faced me again...He was ahead of me again...yet...he was like a warrior retreating after defeat.

_This should be fine, right? I'll be going to Osaka with Claude, and I'll be happy. We'll make a lot of happy memories. _

_Claude, I'll make up to you for being such a bad person today, and I won't be cheating like this ever again._

_Ah...after all...Naru and I will never have a "successful love." We just don't...click..._

_I'm happy._

_I'm really happy it ended before I made a big mistake...I'm really happy...I'm smiling, right?_

_I am happy._

…

…

…

_I should be happy, but why am I not?_

I couldn't understand, Kami-sama; my cheeks had become slightly wet...

_Is it because it's near my time of month? I'm being so emotional because of that?_

"Why...?" My hands went up my cheeks and wiped the freefalling tears.

It was as though my chest was run over by a truck (although I was never run over by one...but well I just thought like that). It was numb and stinging and...

_Why am I not happy? Now that he'd let me go, why am I not happy? This is what I wanted, right? I wanted to move on with Claude, right?_

_So why...does the thought not make me happy anymore?_

Mind or heart...I didn't know what's controlling my body any longer.

I just...ran.

Not away, but towards.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

It wasn't hard to recognize his [sexy] back. I'd been looking at him for ages that I could tell the angles of his shoulders, the slope of his scapula, and the sleekness of his spine. So when I reached out and whirled him around, I knew it was him.

He stared at me with slightly expanded eyes and a speck of anxiety over his features as he saw my tears.

"Ma━"

"You're a coward!" I snarled, "I told you to give up on me, and you just did! If you love me, you should fight for me, idiot!"

He knitted his eyebrows. "Mai━"

"Stop lying, jerk!"

People were ogling at us, but I could care less.

I didn't know what I should follow anymore, so I pulled him towards me and kissed him 'til we're breathless.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

I was impulsive yet again.

_Kami-sama...now I'd really made an irrevocable mistake..._

It was over before I realized what I'd done.

And it couldn't be undone.

And...a large part of me didn't want it to become undone.

...I'd added another reason for Claude to hate me. _I'm so sorry._

It would have been alright if, just like in the hospital, it was Naru who started it...Wait.

I kissed him before too...during the case...

_Gah! I'm so horrible! I deserve to be hated!_

I ruffled my hair and nipped my lip.

I'd always been an idiot, but right then, I was more than that; I was a terrible person.

_If Naru asks why I did that, I'll save my face by saying that it was the only way to convince him to not leave me here penniless...Okay, that's not convincing either! _

_I won't say anything then and let him think whatever he wants! Saves me the trouble of spouting nonsense!_

Claude's listless face kept on coming up, but why...why couldn't I come back to meet him? To go to Osaka? I was very willing a few days prior. I was very determined...

It wasn't fear of confrontation anymore. It was━

"That was bold."

"S-shut up." Cheeks scarlet, I looked away as Naru and I strolled somewhat aimlessly with handcuffed (once more) and holding hands. "You always make me angry."

"That's better."

"Hah? What the hell makes it better?" I shot Naru a withering glom.

"...Making you angry is better than making you cry...Besides, you're...adorable when you're angry," he commented solemnly (with the usual emotionless face), and my flush deepened.

"W-what's that?" I hmph-ed and jutted my lower lip. "Only when I'm angry?"

He shrugged and, somewhat relenting, said as-a-matter-of-factly, "When you're not, you're ravishing."

I blinked and shunted my head to hide my scarlet cheeks. "Shameless liar."

He hid his inadequate smile, but I caught it. So, I couldn't help but furtively beam too.

And then retracted as I remembered...

* * *

><p>When there was a shuffle, I braced myself.<p>

"Mai━"

I gripped my plum shorts and breathed, "I'm sorry, Claude. I-I ca-can't meet you right now."

_I have to do this...before I'll find the jerk...Gah! I can't stop the faucet leaks!_

I sniffed, and my boyfriend heard it. "Mai, you're crying━?"

_Kami-sama, give me strength!_

"I'm fine. I-it's just I-I have to return this favor, and I-I━" I gasped and sobbed. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

I couldn't understand myself. I was happy with Claude. I was always happy with him, so why? Why was I not happy to leave Naru's side? WHY?

"Mai...don't cry..."

"I'm sorry...Y-you prepared everything for us! For this t-trip and then! I-I just left you with my things and a text message! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Uwahhh I d-don't know why...! I just-just━"

"You just need some closure," Claude continued and I snuffled.

_What face is he making? _My heart was twinging. _Claude...you always know...You always...understand me..._

_And now...I feel horrible because I feel like I'm using that ability against you._

"Y-yes...I'm sorry..." I wiped my cheeks with my backhands. "I'm sorry I can't g-go to Osaka..."

He sighed, and I bit my lip. I could understand. If he hangs up, I could understand. If he doesn't talk to me anymore, I could understand.

Finally, he withdrew a breath once more... "Mai."

"Y-yes?" I gulped. _If you hate me, I can understand._

"I'd planned a lot of things."

For a moment, I was dumbfounded. I knew I was being side-tracked, but the diversion wasn't easy to seep in immediately. So I was at odds with reason, and it took some time for registering what he meant. When I did come to, however, I quickly uttered, "S-sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so━!"

"Waking up beside you early in the morning, holding hands as we walk on the seashore...I wanted to do a lot of relaxing things," he interjected me, and I was thankful. He waited for me to speak, yet he halted me when he probably predicted I'd be saying the same stuff infinite times if he didn't shirk my apologies.

"Me too, Claude. Me too!" I was being too enthusiastic...

"I wanted to cook for you for once. You always cooked for me, so I wanted to return the gesture. I'm not as skilled as you are now, though."

I recalled...those times in his apartment's kitchen. Cooking for him as gratitude for his tutoring for my mock college entrance exams...Dining with him after playing a video game...

I joggled my head. "You're an amazing gourmet! You helped me improve, and I━"

"You always worked hard," he chuckled slightly, desolately, and it plunged my heart. "It was cute...No, it was beautiful. You're beautiful in everything you do. You're always radiant...and I depended on that. I...somehow lived to see you smile even though it's just a few months since it all started."

No words could be found in my vocabulary and could help formulate an appropriate sentence to console the quietly weeping Claude on the other end of the line.

_What is he looking at right now? Is he...remembering our memories together? Is he...crying and biting down his sobbing gasps so that I couldn't hear him and notice it?_

"It's quite ironic, isn't it? I told you before I don't believe in any of this romantic crap. That those who pursue romance are just in love with the thought of being in love. There's no way something so pure or sincere could exist. I'd thought of that...but with you...I started to believe it does exist."

"Claude...I━"

"Shhh. Just...listen to me, Mai."

"O-okay..." I sniffed again.

After about a minute of pause, he carried on. "Swimsuit. I wanted to see you in a swimsuit. You only wore your school's one piece swimsuit in the pool, where I took you as a birthday gift last June. I wanted to see you in a bikini, you know? See you show more skin. It makes me jealous to know that my cousin has a magazine with you wearing one."

"P-pervert!" I blushed but smiled a little. Although he was hurting...for him to make light of the situation just a bit...

He was amazing. He was...the sweetest person I'd ever met.

"Isn't everyone at least a little lewd? Anyway, besides that...I wanted to have a trip in a yacht with you. We'd go fishing, diving, swimming...So many things we can do, and everything isn't even connected to the beach. Things like mountain climbing, camping...I'd thought of them too."

"I'm s-sorry...to ru-ruin everything...Our p-plans..."

"It was mostly my plan, though. I took the thinking role, so you can relax. We almost died in your last case, and I wanted to divert your thoughts."

"I really want to go...to Osaka with you." I bit my lip.

"I know, Mai. I know, that's why..."

There was a very long pause, and I waited for his next words.

And when they came, my mind was blown to smithereens.

"If this is the only way for you to have a peace of mind...I..." He cleared his throat and hesitated before soughing. He was restraining himself...He was trying not to get carried away by his emotions.

"Mai...I'll give you some space to think things through." His voice had deepened, and it must have been a struggle to make it sound neutral...to not scare me.

"Claude...I'm so sorry...!" I cried, and I didn't care if a kid passing by just pointed at me and shouted, "Mommy, she's crying like a child!"

Claude suspired. "Don't cry..."

"Y-yeah...uwah...!"

He sighed.

"Two weeks is a long time."

I bit my lip harder. Sorry was an overused word, and I didn't want to make him feel bad...

"But it's my fault...that you got taken away."

"No, it's not!" I shook my head and wasn't able to stop myself from spouting, "Sorry. I was━"

"Don't," he grunted, and there was an iciness in it...a finality. Then his voice softened. "I'm sorry for the tone. It's just...don't apologize, Mai, because it's not over between us."

I nodded. "Y-yeah."

"I trust you."

"Unn." The weight in those words were heavy, but I deserved it. I deserved to be burdened by them, and I deserved to feel contrite when I betray his trust.

Claude's voice was frigid. It was like when the topic of his deceased sister, Liza, was brought up. So, I hated myself again because...every time he sounded so cold, his expression would be blank...and spiritless...

As though he didn't want to live anymore.

* * *

><p>As much as I dislike it, I felt a little relieved that I'd talked to Claude before I found Naru. That I asked for permission...<p>

But for me to betray his trust that early...it was an unerasable sin.

So...I had to do something in order to not repeat the same mistake thrice.

Solidifying a conviction, I broke free from Naru's hold. He peered at me after I pulled my hand from his grasp, and I reasoned, "My hands are somewhat sweaty, you know?"

He just nodded.

"Three weeks?" Naru supplied.

I nictated, not understanding at first, and made him repeat what he said.

"...It's still two weeks, and same conditions apply, Kazuya-kun," I responded firmly.

He jounced his head and narrowed his eyes. "That guy..."

He went silent, and I lied, "I already texted him...that we're not here anymore..."

If Naru really loves me...I just couldn't break up with Claude as though our two months together were nothing. Because even if it was a small spark scintillated within a short time, something grew between Claude and me.

And it's not something that could just be easily extinguished.

The thought of seeing Claude's crestfallen face made my lips quiver and a sob threaten to start afresh. However, Naru squeezed my hand, and I bit my lip and swallowed the lump in my throat.

A spark and a firework...which one should I save when they're both transient?

_Two weeks...After two weeks, what will I do?_

"Mai."

"Hm?"

"What do you want me to do?"

I gawked at him, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Are you seriously asking me for orders? _**My**_ orders?"

He shrugged. "Yes."

I stared at him. All the time, it was me who...

I smirked. I could think of a thousand commands in my head...

But then, I was aware that there's really just one thing I want him to do.

"I...I just want you to talk."

He knitted his eyebrows. "Talk?"

I nodded and blushed but looked at him forthrightly. "I want you to talk to me; tell me everything about yourself. I want to know more about you. I want to _**see you completely**_."

He gazed at me and was thoughtful. Then his eyes lit up, and I knew it dawned upon him. "You mean you want to see me naked?"

Very red, I was open-mouthed and stammering, "T-that's not what I meant!"

Still expressionless, he informed, "I meant it figuratively, Mai."

"Phrase it normally, stupid nerd!"

"It is normal."

"It's not!"

He sighed, and I glared at him. I was getting worked up again. Really...he had his way of frustrating me...

"Where do you want to go?" Naru inquired after a few minutes, and I nictated, somehow forgetting my irritation, and stared at him thoughtfully.

I had enough of reality right then, so I answered, "I want to see a movie."

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

Between the slit of the crimson door and door frame was a pale blue boy━only the left part of his face peeking━with an all-black eye. He was staring with a reddish hue collecting on his eye's corner that was near the bridge of his nose, like a tear of blood.

"You like movies like that?" Naru frowned at the poster I had pointed out. It looked creepy, but I'd seen more sinister entities.

I shook my head. "I'm just not in the mood for action movies."

The lobby of United or Toho cinemas was so vivacious. The floor was so white and polished and spacious. The ceiling appeared carpeted. The ticket booth had a long light yellowish brown island with black monitors on the surfaces. Besides the fluorescent lights above the counter, dangling light mocha lamps were lit overhead. Behind the sellers were two doors, each on two sides of the wall. Two flat screens, which showed schedules of movies, were beside the doors, and between the former were metal letters forming the word "Tickets."

There were a lot of people just passing by or filing out. Some were debating about what movie to watch. The others were remarking about the quality and worth of what they'd seen. There were cries, laughs, complaints, smiles, glares, and shrugs. The rest just roved and left quite expressionlessly.

"The title couldn't be less obvious," Naru criticized, and I curved my lips upward.

"I know, right? And it's 3D! Almost all movies are in 3D nowadays..."

Still, nothing could beat a horror movie from making you flinch on your seat and assure yourself that the evil being would not come out of the projector to curse you. It could thin the boundary of reality and imagination you'd perceived...

Well, those were the ideas I had of horror movies, yet after I worked in SPR, everything I'd known as "horror"-inducing paled in comparison.

I tugged Naru's dubious figure. "Come on. Let's check if it's a movie worthy of an idiot narcitist's presence."

"Narcitist?"

"Short for narcissist and scientist."

He smirked. "Another word for me, huh."

"Don't be so conceited."

The line for the movie tickets was nonexistent for the one I chose compared to a movie that's about green creatures (they said there's another one about blue creatures next year that's entitled Ava...I forgot). Anyway, we took our ebony 3D glasses and proceeded to Breathe, a theater restaurant, because I wanted to have some late dessert.

"Wear the glasses~~" I persuaded, and Naru squinted his eyes at me as we ascended the stairs to a special lounge the ticket seller said was for premier seat customers.

"We're not in the theater."

"I dare you to see the world in 3D." I grinned.

"The world is three-dimensional, Mai."

"Just wear the glasses!"

"No."

"I'll...kiss you if you will." I flushed, but it was an empty promise, of course. I wouldn't do something to betray Claude's trust ever again...

Still, Naru wore it.

"Ah! The view is good there!" I ran to the table I pointed and hurled him though he's frowning.

The wide glass window showed a view of the dock and Tokyo Bay. The shimmering body of water and the sea gulls in flight were very remarkable to behold.

"What do you want to eat?" Naru sat on the black swiveling chair across me, and he pored over the menu while sulking.

"Pelican mango tart and yogurt mousse and citrus mint tea," I said, after glancing at the dessert menu, leaned my elbows on the wooden table, and rested my chin on my intertwined fingers. "The glasses suit you."

He arched an eyebrow.

"Are you mad?" I smiled like a Cheshire cat.

"Why should I?"

"Because I didn't kiss you."

He shrugged. "You weren't persuasive from the start."

"Tsk. You expected me to, though."

His eyes glinted in amusement━a sign that he was ready to play along. "You expected me to expect, but then, I can kiss you anytime."

I blushed and loured. "I'm not that easy, jerrrk."

He shrugged. "I can do it when you're not looking."

"Wha━? You sneaky narcitist!"

He looked away and smiled, and I'd forgiven him again.

"Sly..." I murmured and gazed at the dock once more.

"After two weeks..." he started and stopped.

"What?"

"You'll go back to that guy."

It wasn't a question...

"Because I made a promise to Claude that I will."

He eyed me obliquely and was quiet.

Even when I would find out what's real or not...what was wrong and what was right were still far from my comprehension. If I chose Claude in the end, would my heart rebel again? If I chose Naru in the end, would my mind reproach me again?

What decision would appease both parties?

The waitress came to get our orders, and we became speechless again afterwards.

It was brief though.

"What do you want to do for two weeks?" Naru asked suddenly.

Pensive, I inquired, "Data gathering, huh?"

I could see his black notebook in his hands.

"Hm..." I gazed at the dock recurrently. "Let's see...I want to go to a hot spring. Then the beach. Ah! I want to eat a watermelon and light some small fireworks. Go to a shrine? There'll be booths and all. Hmm...a camping in the woods, perhaps? Oh yeah, is there a sinkhole in Japan? You know the kind with blue-green water? The kind you can swim in peacefully? I want to go to one!"

He frowned, but...

_He's actually writing it! Can't he tell I'm not entirely serious?_

"What else?"

I closed my eyes. "Hmm...That's all I can think of. How about you decide?" I challenged. "Give me memories and take me places _**beyond my imagination**_."

He pondered about what I said and closed his notebook. "I will see to it then."

Our orders came, and I picked on the mango pulp in my tart. "Will the office be alright? You'll be gone for two weeks..."

"It won't die without me."

I clucked my tongue. "So says the workaholic. You sit in your coop almost all day, so you're probably immune to butt cramps already."

"It seems like you, on the other hand, spend more time speculating what I'm doing in my office than working." He smirked.

"I do it during _**break**_, and it's still a part of my livelihood since I'm earning well doing bets about yo━Old Maid! Yasu and I play Old Maid, and I usually beat him to it, hehe..."

He narrowed his eyes at me, and guilty, I looked away. _Gah. Bad habit revealed. Still, I'm too good at betting that I can't just stop..._

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

We sat on a chalky loveseat couch on the upper part of the movie house. The six snowy premier seats were separated by low walls from the single gray seats. Also, small round tables stood before each couch. The carpet in the premier spot was red and not gray too, and there's more space to walk on than the seats outside of the premier box. Well-lit, I could see the red and black walls properly, and the wide projector screen.

Anyway, the movie was shocking alright. I hadn't watched it before since I wasn't into horror movies (real horror stories are different~), but the astonishment factor was there. However, I believed our SPR cases were scarier, especially the Kawabuki case...

So, when I wasn't flinching on my seat from the scare tactics, I was thinking about how I could have solved a case like that with the SPR gang, or I was asking Naru without end how he would have solved a case like that. With exorcism, maybe? Would it work?

PK?

A lot of things that could be done to stop it, but then horror movies wouldn't be typically horrifying sometimes if it wasn't an unending cycle...So I just shut my mouth up until the credits rolled. I had fun, though, and as always, when I'm having fun, it would end so quickly. When Naru and I went out of the cinema, I wanted to watch another movie, but then he said there's somewhere we should go first.

So, I had let Naru haul me gently along inside Peach John, a store filled with...

_Oh no, oh no, oh freaking NO!_

"Mai, pick your size," Naru ushered coolly when we proceeded to a section, and I reddened from head to toe.

"P-pervert!" I accused, and he glowered at my perturbed face.

Still scarlet, I glared back. Dawning on him, he soughed and quirked an eyebrow. "You don't have an extra undergarment with you."

_Oh, so it's my fault?_

I said, "Take me home to pack again!"

Right then, I was regretting I didn't meet Claude to get my things. Besides, wasn't he prone to hiccups when he's surrounded by posters of scantily clad women? (Although I didn't know how I knew that...)

He shrugged. "No. It'll take time, and you might change your mind."

"You said you'll do what I want!"

"Yes," he concurred, "but to my own discretion."

"That wasn't a part of the condition!" I started feebly punching him on the chest. "You pervert! I swear I'll sue you for sexual harassment, you jer━!"

"Wahhh, look at that," a passing customer said to her friend, and Naru and I glimpsed at her. "Lover's quarrel? And they're handcuffed too..."

"Probably the fad nowadays..."

_Gah! I forgot! I got used to it!_

Disconcerted, I hissed in a lower voice to Naru, "Take off the handcuffs."

He shrugged. "I don't have the key, or do you want me to have a hospital trip?"

"Wha━You━" _He's definitely enjoying this!_

"Must be a new lover's trend," the customer's friend carried on with a nod at us. "Maybe they forgot to take it off even after their "pillow talk"?"

The two outsiders giggled, and I could die at the spot.

_Those freaking people!_

I grabbed Naru's hand and quickly got out of the section. Soon, I stopped near the rows of pajamas. Fuming, I queried, "Why are you doing this? It's embarrassing!"

Naru narrowed his eyes. "I already told you the reason, and I won't take you home until after two weeks."

_Grrr!_

"Why are you so stubborn? I don't have money with me," I shot, annoyed.

He arched an eyebrow. "You thought I'll make you pay?"

I gaped at him. Before long, gritting my teeth, I thought of a way to get him back for...

Ah!

_I'm going to be difficult, right?_

I squinted my eyes at his insouciant and calm face.

_And he's implying that he's going to pay?_

A lightbulb went on.

"You'll buy me an underwear?" I flushed. "A-and clothes? A-and other things?"

He nodded. "I'll pay."

I'd never felt so trivially happy to be treated to something as that instance, but I fleered. "Don't you dare regret saying that."

"There's nothing I'll regret about."

I huffed. "We'll see!"

I snagged a black eye mask from a bust nearby and gave it to him.

"I'll buy what I need, but you'll have to cover your eyes with these!"

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

I tried not to look at the mannequins in the store; they reminded me of something very unpleasant. Although I knew they wouldn't move...I was still unsettled.

"Is there something I can help you with?" an outspoken saleslady asked. Her black hair was short and wavy on the ends, and she donned a black silk sleeveless blouse tucked in a creamy knee-length stencil skirt.

"Ah, yes..." With a cautious glance at eye-masked Naru, I leaned to the saleslady and whispered, "I'm looking for a d80 of this..."

I showed her an emerald-hued 'Workbra.' It was in a 70% off sale, so...

The lady smiled and instructed with her hand, "Ah, our D sizes are this way."

I reddened, and my insides were squirming and screaming, _How can you be so freaking loud, woman?_

I glared at Naru, but he pretended not to hear anything. _Gah! Claude didn't even know my size!_

"Don't you dare say a word," I warned and he shrugged.

I was overreacting; I knew. It's just...I don't know. I was unprepared for all of that, and my mind was in chaos.

At last, we stopped at a row of the bra I like...

"Would you like to see our triple lace version too, ma'am? For our Bomb bust bra, there's the━"

_Kami-sama, can't you shut up this woman? I swear, she's like a megaphone!_

"I━I just want to get each with those colors..."

"Sure, ma'am! Do you want the padded one or not? There's also one that has a multi-way strap, so you can wear the bra in crossback━"

Very red, I grabbed the brassieres of my size and predilection, chucked them in a cart, and strode off with a hurried, "Thanks, that's all!"

I knew I shouldn't be so affected. After all, shouldn't I be difficult? I was really fretting too much, so after roaming the store quite waywardly, I halted and exhaled. I could really become sensitive about inconsequential things.

Whirling to Naru, I attempted to dissuade him. "I'm going to get a lot more and make you pay a lot of money for it, you know?"

He bobbed his head. "That's fine."

I'd never thought he would be so...submissive.

"I'll make you spend a lot for me until you go bankrupt, and that's fine with you?" I questioned, fascinated with the idea.

"I won't become penniless, Mai," he said confidently, and I just couldn't help but be amazed by his arrogance.

"Honestly...how can you be so certain...?"

He just shrugged, and I left it at that. Subsequently, I got two of each colors (lavender, emerald, yellow, pink, mocha, black, off-white) of the Workbra series that I wanted and some varicolored panties too. Furthermore, the store had decent clothes also, so I shoved some pajamas, tank tops, tunics, blouses, tees, shorts, capris, pants, and etcetera in a shopping cart.

My girlish spendthrift side was really on for a great haul that, when I gazed at everything I grabbed, I felt really culpable. The great sale really tempted me, and I hardly bought things in such a costly store too━and I hardly bought new clothes because I was saving for college (although Obaa-san would pay, but still...).

"I'm going to try the clothes," I informed Naru, and I made him sit on a fuchsia couch near the dressing room entrance. "Can't you take off the handcuffs now? It's not like I'm going to leave you... I've already decided not to, you know?"

He was silent as he took something from his pants' pocket and handed it to me. I took it and loured.

"Honestly, you're such a great liar!" I growled as I unlocked our link.

He didn't riposte as I returned the key and pocketed the handcuffs (so he wouldn't fetter me again).

"D-don't take off the mask even if you get impatient!"

Somehow, I was the one being abashed to see him surrounded by rows of girl's underwear...

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

"Are you done?" Naru inquired. I'd been very quiet after trying all clothes I'd grasped, and he'd noticed that I hadn't moved in front of the row of pants for a while.

"Yeah..." I told him, "You'll be spending more than 20,000 yen on me, and you won't even get angry over it?"

"Why should I?" He tilted his head. "I had not given you anything for the past three years anyway."

"Except dream diaries."

"That's for work."

"20,000 yen is more than all the gifts I got since I was a child," I pointed out. _Well...the motor scooter from Obaa-san is an exception...or not...Whatever._ "Besides, I'd rather like the experience than the material."

"You need those for two weeks."

"I told you I can repack at home," I insisted.

"That guy might be there, and your grandmother...might not allow you to go with me."

I nictated and pondered. Indeed...Obaa-san...She was somehow anti-Naru nowadays...

"I'll sneak into my room? Without them noticing," I suggested.

He shrugged but didn't say anything.

I soughed. "What is it?"

"I...don't want to bring you home yet."

I blushed and diverted my eyes.

He wasn't shy about it as usual. His cheeks never reddened when saying such things. Even though he said them in his normal tone...the effect they brought to me...wasn't normal at all.

He fished out a black wallet and handed it to me.

"You can't wear the same apparel for two weeks, nor would I take you home just within the discussed time frame," he added.

I sighed. "Stubborn jerk."

He smiled slightly.

Feeling a little wicked, though, I took his wallet and proceeded to the counter with my picks. The line wasn't long (since I rushed to a newly opened counter).

As the cashier punched in the barcodes, I ogled at Naru's wallet. It wasn't fat...

_Hmmm, let's see what he has in here!_

I opened it and saw an unforgettable picture. It was from the photo booth last May: a small picture sticker of us just above the manufacturer's name. Naru wasn't smiling in it, but I had two of my fingers upward (like an old TV antenna) behind his head━which made him comical despite his aloofness.

I regarded Naru beside me, but he was still wearing the eye mask. A question was stuck in my throat.

I'd thought he'd thrown our picture somewhere. After all...two months before...I hardly meant anything for him (and I still thought I hardly meant something for him at the current time). But just like the ring, knowing that such little pieces of evidence of our date last May still existed in his possession...gave me so much bliss even though I knew it's wrong.

The cashier repeated to me the balance, and Naru told me to give her his black card (even his credit card is black!). Absentmindedly I gave it, and Naru took off the eye-mask (which he strangely included in the purchase too) so that he can sign on some device.

_Kami-sama, why do I continue to love this person before me?_

_Why...despite all his imperfections...Why am I still truly, madly, deeply, and hopelessly in love with him?_

* * *

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I bought a lot more than I'd planned...but who wouldn't take advantage of sales?

To top it off, LaLaport (honestly, the name is hilarious) had brands I'd never seen in Shibuya or in the other malls near my high school. It had everything I couldn't see in my catalogues back at home.

And...well, the narcissist paid...without complaining.

A greater power than Pokemon cards...located in his wallet.

Okay, I knew it was cruel (but he wouldn't say no at all), and it would chew me further later━I'd be compensating him like...6 months' worth of my paychecks from him. I kept the receipts though, so I could add up everything he spent for me and plan my installments...

Anyway, since I bought too much, I made him buy me a trunk-trolley to put every shoe, underwear, dress, pajamas, and etcetera (e.g. toiletries) in. It was bulky, and since it was tiring to carry all around the place, we left it in a baggage storage on the first floor.

Seemingly, Naru had other plans again because he'd led me to another direction.

"Where are we going?"

"I need some things too." He shrugged and made an ingress at Armani Exchange.

Whirling my head from side-to-side, I perpended, "Oh...You don't have extra clothes too? I'd never thought you'd be quite unprepared."

Naru didn't return a snappy back talk and just proceeded to a row of long-sleeved━

"No!" I halted his hand from grasping a black shirt.

He frowned at me. "What is it?"

"You can't be serious!"

He raised an eyebrow.

"You're going to wear a long-sleeved shirt with the heat outside? It's summer! Besides, black absorbs heat, you know? Aren't you being suicidal?"

He sighed. "I don't have any intention to stay long in the sun━"

"You should prepare yourself!" I smirked. "We'll go out a lot, so you'll get a tan."

"I'm not interested in having erythema solare."

I tilted my head. "Solare what?"

"Sunburn."

"Tsk! It's summer! Are you a vampire or what?"

He straitened his eyes at me as though saying I'm a pain in the ass━which I admit I can be.

Yet I grinned. "You said you'll do what I want, right?"

He stared at me and soughed. I wasn't that easy to shake off after all.

"What do you want then?" he finally queried, and I snatched his arm and took him out of that bleak section.

* * *

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Since the store before was too...somber in atmosphere and the clothes are very pricey, I dragged him to a somewhat funky, robust, and very affordable outlet.

"Here, try this." I handed Naru some dark blue jeans. "Ah, this tee works well with that."

I shoved an amber tee with an inscription—Momma's boy━to him.

He grimaced at it, and I smiled broadly. "What?"

"You're enjoying this."

"Oh, is it too obvious?" I shot him a smug look.

Albeit wanting to dismiss my choices, he took a light blue shorts with Hawaiian print from me anyway.

"Do you want to wear some skinny jeans? Ah, or mini shorts?"

He glowered at me, and I tee-heed.

"Don't worry. I won't make you do a fashion show for Lin-san and the others. You'll only wear those things I chose for you for two weeks with me. I'll help you find somewhere to donate them if you don't want to wear them anymore after fortnight."

He shrugged and averted his eyes.

_Ah...I went too far, I guess. He can be quite sensitive heehee..._

Locking my arm with his own, I asked, "Are you tired, Princess?"

He squinted his eyes at me, and I smacked my forehead playfully. "Ahh...My Princess is so sullen. Her legs must be tired, hm? Shall I carry you on my back?"

I grinned and Naru soughed.

"You're really fond of role-playing."

"Well, you're sulking."

"I wasn't."

"You are. Alright, I'll relent. You'll just do five things for me daily for two weeks."

His eyes became narrower. "One."

"Five."

"Two."

"Five," I maintained.

"Three."

"Five."

"Four."

"Five," I upheld.

We fixed each other an unwavering gander, yet before long, he jounced his head with another withdrawn breath of acquiescence. "Fine."

"Good! Now, since we've only agreed at this time, the other orders I'd had before aren't included in the count for today~"

He frowned at me. "You've really gotten cheeky."

I smiled. "It's your fault~"

He shrugged.

"Anyway, choosing what you'll wear will be my task, so letting me do all the work for you isn't that hard, right?"

He loured and suspired. "Perhaps. As long as you won't make me wear a skirt."

"Ara, you're generously giving me ideas~"

If his gaze could corrode me, I would have become a wilted flower already, but I just chuckled.

* * *

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Our roles reversed, I waited for Naru to try the clothes I'd picked for him...

"Come on! What's taking you so long?" I knocked on the door of his fitting stall. "Show it to me!"

"You'll see me wearing it soon, anyway," he grunted.

"I can't wait that long."

He sighed and finally opened the door, and my eyes were transported to another dimension.

_He's wearing khaki shorts! Khaki! Shorts! A light blue v-neck tee! A tee! And OMG his legs! His bare legs!_

My mouth was hanging open for long that saliva almost trickled down my chin if I didn't have the sense to shut it.

When I found my voice, I gushed, "Whoa...you don't have any leg hair at all..."

"It's just very sheer that it looks nonexistent. It's a congenital trait." He scowled, and I made a moue with my mouth.

"Tsk. Such advantageous genes."

He shrugged and returned to the dressing stall to change back before I can protest. He didn't come out on his next tryouts even though I rapped on his door. When he unlocked it, he was back to his all-black attire.

I crossed my arms. "Mohhh...Why the hell do you not wear casual clothes? It's not like you'll get hives or something."

He shrugged and upturned his lips as he hung the clothes he didn't want on a wheeled rack outside. "You might worry."

"Hah? What the hell does that mean?"

"You'll have more competition."

I gawked at him and grumbled, "Narcitist."

"Armadillo."

"Hah? How can I be? And why are you name-calling me now?"

He leered. "You curl up when you sleep."

My cheeks ripened like strawberries. _I curl up━? Wait. He observed that?_

Picking on the ends of my fringe, I veered my head. "Tsk. If that's what your revenge is like, it's pretty lame."

"Millipede, then?"

"Stop with the name-calling!"

Although I was pouting, rapture was swelling in me. Maybe we'd be fighting all the time if ever we'd be together officially...but I guess, it would be somewhat fun...

* * *

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I counted the things I picked for him in the stainless silver cart.

"You have breathable shirts, pants, shorts, flip flops, sandals, sunglasses, hat...Hmm, now what's lacking would be━?" I turned to him, and he elevated his brow.

Then it struck me.

Wha━!

I reddened at the thought of seeing him choose for his un━

His hands came out of nowhere, and he cunningly blindfolded me with the same eye mask he'd used before.

"You!"

I heard him smirk. "So you were curious."

I pinkened and only blurted, "Jerrrk."

I didn't see him, nor did he quip. I was dead certain though that he must have a sly smile affixed on his countenance as he hurled me to God-knows-where.

* * *

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_Okay, I am guilty._

I couldn't resist peeking when he chose some black boxer briefs!

I briskly concealed my eyes though when he gazed my way. But...well...curiosity would always win heehee...

"Remember what I told you~ Nothing black," I reminded as his footfalls veered somewhere. "You've mourned enough for Gene, so isn't it time to━?"

Naru's footsteps halted, and I took off my mask with an astounded face.

His face was solemn and somewhat stolid. "You remember Gene?"

"I-I━" I shook my head in speechlessness. I couldn't explain what I just said. It just came out of my mouth without even thinking profoundly...

_Gene...I said he'd mourned enough for...Gene?_

_How could I say that? How do I know who this Gene person is? What is he to me?_

_What is he to Naru?_

"Mai?" Naru pressed, and I succussed my head.

"I don't know...I don't know...It just...I just blurted it unthinkingly! I can't remem━"

He bobbed his head. "You don't have to remember right now."

"Who...is he? Is he...close to me?"

Naru hesitated and soughed. "The first time you told me about him...seeing you, he has become very important to you already."

_Seeing...? I dated with this Gene...?_

There was something in the tone of Naru's voice. It was a mixture of...gloom and jealousy; two things that sounded offbeat for an emotional blend in his voice.

"Did I...love him?" I asked gently.

I didn't know why, but it seemed a natural query. Naru's...expression and tone...just seemed to hint that I was...enamored with this Gene guy...before him?

"I thought you did." His answer was soft, not the terse and cross replies he usually riposted.

I blinked and then fixed him an...apologetic look. "Where is he?"

I already knew though. I had already implied it from the tongue slip...

Naru was reluctant again before uttering, "He's dead."

I nodded, trying to accept this new information about a person I'd forgotten, but soon my eyes became cloudy as tears fell down my cheeks.

"When did he die?"

Naru was irresolute, and awareness cloaked my shuddering and weeping figure.

"He...saved me? From the last case?" Did he die because of me? Was that it? Was that why...my chest felt so heavy yet warm at the thought of his name?

"That's what I'd speculated. I didn't get into contact with him anymore. He...died long before you met."

My eyes widened.

_Gene's...a ghost?_

"B-but you still got in contact with him? C-can you still get in contact?"

It was too much to take, so he regarded me for a minute as though choosing his words in silence.

"I did...the last moment I used my PK at the Kawabuki case," he revealed with a vacant face, "but that was the final time I'd heard of him."

It was inopportune to weep in a store, but it just occurred to me that way. After all...I just found out that I loved someone before Naru, yet I couldn't even remember that person.

_And that he's dead..._

Naru didn't tell me I'm an idiot. He didn't tell me that I cry so easily, or I shouldn't cry in that place. He didn't pull me somewhere else. Instead he had let me stand there with him even if it's humiliating, or passersby might have gossiped about him making me sob.

I'd cried a lot that day, but that one last cry I had, it was...more heart-wrenching. Something shattered within me...Something shook within me that I couldn't describe. Oddly, it pained me more than thinking about my betrayal to Claude.

My mind couldn't understand it, but my heart and body could.

What was it? What was it that I couldn't recall?

Who was it...that I should have remembered?

Why...couldn't I conjure an image of Gene in my head?

Naru didn't make me wear a blindfold as he bought more underwears for himself, and I wasn't in the mood of becoming difficult or mischievous.

The idea that I had loved someone named Gene made me inattentive...that the rest of the mall tour blurred. Even when Naru and I got all our purchases in the trunk of his black BMW, I just couldn't stop from shoveling my mind for the unremembered face.

* * *

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Although I was just sorrowful, a smile couldn't keep out of my face.

"You like it?" Naru catechized from behind.

I harrumphed and shrugged. "N-not really."

He looked away and smirked, and I knew I wasn't quite compelling.

But...well...I couldn't restrain myself━we were in a suite...an **_Imperial_ _suite_**.

"I have thought you'll have feminine misgivings if we sleep in one room." Naru glommed at me in fascination.

Cheeks in red hue, I deflected my head. "H-hah? What's with that? It's not like it's the first time...We slept beside each other in the tower at Kawabuki castle, remember? And I've slept in Claude's apartment before, so━"

_Ack!_

My mouth was really unstoppable. I knew how careless I was when Naru's amusement turned into disapproval. Trying not to be guilty though, I said defensively, "W-what? There's nothing wrong with me sleeping in his place, so think whatever you want."

Well, it was because I studied the whole night there for my mock college entrance exams, but I didn't attempt to tell him that. After all, I wasn't going to be easy on him, right?

So, I left him to be problematized with it.

APA Hotel was nothing short of epicness. The suite was a simple ivory and onyx blend, but it exuded such an elegant feeling. The mahogany wall of tiles behind the beds' heads was imposing yet classy. The lush Navajo white carpet was smooth to traipse on, and the pink silk curtains were soft to touch.

I was actually supposed to be against it. It was a very expensive room, and I would most likely be paying about ¾ of my college savings just to compensate him for everything (including clothes). But, I should at least enjoy it while my pockets are still hole-less, right?

I sighed and slumped on the obsidian chaise lounge by the window.

"Which bed do you want to sleep on?" Naru raised an eyebrow.

"Wherever the things you bought for me are." I cast a fleeting look on the black bed-end bench.

He nodded and frowned at the mint green trunk trolley and a dozen of paper bags on the foot of the bed, which was near the white closet. "You should arrange your clothes."

I giggled. "Yes, mother~"

He glared and I chortled. Sighing, he sat on the dark wooden bench at the foot of his bed, near the windows. He had a sable suitcase in his trunk all along, and he'd finished putting his purchases in it earlier.

"Are you hungry?"

"No." It's just half past 6...

"Do you want to take a shower first, then?"

I reddened. "T-there's a public bath, right? The receptionist suggested it's nice, so..."

He jounced his head. "We'll go down together then."

I agreed, and while he used the bathroom, I sandwiched a pair of my new underwears in the white-and-black striped towel on my bed. When he finished, Naru and I brought our towels and yukata and wended to our respective bathhouses, which were at the opposite ends of a second floor hallway.

However...

"No way..." I groaned as I read a gold placard outside the women's bathhouse. It said that the hotel patrons need a hundred yen for the lockers, where the toiletries were placed. I peeked inside the locker room and nipped my lip at the sight of women opening their lockers..

_If only I had my wallet...I would be gushing and sighing in the warm pool by now!_

"Gah. No way..." I murmured morosely as I glanced back at the sign outside the bathhouse.

_Warm bath, sayonara...!_

"Are you alright, dear?"

I turned around and saw a smiling old woman with gray curly short hair wearing a light green kimono. She'd actually been standing outside the bathhouse before I even arrived there.

I scratched my head. "Ahaha, yeah, I'm fine."

She glimpsed behind me and asked, "Are you alone?"

"Ah, y-yes...I mean, the person with me is in another bathhouse, so..."

"Do you want to join me then? I'll pay for the locker for you," she suggested amiably, and I gulped.

_Gah! Was I too obvious?_

Well, I did whine out loud, I think.

Quickly, I waved my hands. "I-it's alright, Obaa-san. I'll just bathe in my room━"

She shook her head. "I insist."

She grasped my wrist and guided me to the locker room.

"But━!"

After showing our room keys to the bathhouse manager, in front of the lockers, she took a hundred yen coin from her purse. Extending her hand to me, she smiled. "You can think of this as a replacement fee."

"Replacement fee?"

She nodded. "You'll be washing my hair and scrubbing my back in my daughter's stead."

_So that's why she was standing there for so long (probably)? Wahh that is a tempting offer..._

I bit my lip. _If I refuse...won't it be rude? Gah! I do want a nice refreshing bath!_

Without second thoughts, I gently took the coin and bowed. "I'm sorry to impose on you!"

She blinked and snickered. "It's the other way around, actually."

I joggled my head. "No..."

"Well, let's get a move on...?"

"Maika," I said reflexively. Somehow, I'd gotten used to saying the name my foster grandmother gave me instead of my real one. "I'm Maika Kagami."

"Kagami...?" She stared at me up and down before comprehension (somewhat) lit her eyes. "I see...Nice to meet you, Maika-chan. I'm Erika Mitsui."

* * *

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"By the looks of it, you're in senior high?" Mitsui-san inquired as she sat on a stool before me, absolutely bare like everyone else in the well-lit bathing room. The both of us just got out of the sauna and began washing before a cold soak in the stonewall-edged pool.

Trying not to slip my soapy hands over her eyes, I replied while massaging her scalp with shampoo, "Yes. I'll be graduating next Spring."

"What university will you be attending?" She twisted the faucet before her and waited for her bucket to be filled before rinsing her gray hair.

"I'm aiming for Todai, although I'm not so confident hehe..." I squeezed out some bath gel on a loofah and began scrubbing her back.

"Being ambitious is good sometimes."

"Well, actually, I made a deal with my grandmother. She allowed me to do what I love as long as my grades are good. In order to do it in the future too, I'll have to get into Todai."

"I see. Hmm..." She held out her hand, and I gave her the loofah.

"Are you here by yourself, Mitsui-san?" I sat on the stool beside her.

"I'm with my husband. It's our anniversary."

"Wow. Congratulations~" I started shampooing my hair while cogitating.

Seeing old couples was always a pretty sight for me. Observing them together, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be with someone so long even until me and that person have wrinkles, creaking backs, and slow paces. What was it like to grow old with someone you love? What was it like...to overcome numerous obstacles and still stay together until you and your partner's knees couldn't move?

What was that like?

"How about you?" Mitsui-san commenced.

"Hm?"

"Who's the person you're with? A male, I suppose?"

"Ah...yes." I looked away, somewhat coy, and splashed water on my head to blow off steam and rinse away the shampoo on my hair.

"Did you elope?"

I unceremoniously dropped my wooden bucket. "Wah! N-no!"

She laughed and commented, "You look quite guilty, dear!"

I turned erubescent and retrieved my bucket. "W-well, it's complicated..."

"That's what life is in general. Anyway, care to indulge a beldam like me with your predicament?"

"T-that's━"

"Don't worry. I won't circulate rumors in this bathhouse."

I slowly smiled. _Well...it's not like I'd meet these people again..._

I glimpsed at the other people in the pool. There were a few young women (most likely coworkers or friends), some old ones like Mitsui-san, some soloists, and mother-daughter tandems.

"Someone outside gave me a hundred yen!" one from a huddle prattled across us.

"Ehhh! Why? That's weird!" the woman beside her exclaimed.

"Well, he's handsome! Younger than me, but still hot!"

"Really, you pedo!" her friend teased.

"It seems like he's taken, though! He gave me a coin to pass on to someone."

"Whoa...Where's the coin then? Did you give it already?"

"Nope! It's once in a lifetime that I randomly receive something from a hottie!"

"You're so mean~" They all giggled, and I withdrew a breath.

Then I grabbed my own loofah and contemplated about what I should reveal. Lying would be very hurtful and ungrateful to Mitsui-san because she helped me...even if she's stranger.

_It's alright...I needed to talk to someone anyway...someone who can understand._

"So, how about it? Won't you entertain me with a modern love story?"

I simpered and said, "The person I'm with is a narcissist."

She nictated and replied, "Ah...a pain in the ass, huh."

I gaped at her, and she shrugged like my Obaa-san.

"What is it? I can't say _**pain in the ass**_ like you youngsters?"

I burst out in laughter. "No-no! Not at all! I'm just amazed! My grandmother isn't lenient, you see, so I guess I've categorized everyone else like her."

She beamed. "Your grandmother must have been a _**pain in the ass**_ too."

I guffawed. "Yes! Her strict personality is like a nail in mine."

"Alright, so what about the narcissist?"

"I hate him," I admitted while scrubbing my back. "I hate him, but...I love him."

She lifted a corner of her mouth. "That is indeed complicated."

"Well...I'm not supposed to be with him right now, but..." I splashed my soaped body with cold water and soughed.

"You still love him?"

I nictated and gazed down. "Yes..."

After rinsing, she stood up, and I followed her to the nearest cold pool.

The bathing room had a dark brown wooden floor. The area was divided, so some floors were made of stone while the others were of floorboards. The pools were different too; some were steaming with heat, and some were not. There was a cylindrical tub (designed like a wooden bucket) too for just one or two persons.

"This feels so nice," I breathed as the cold water felt like menthol on my freshly scoured body.

"It's maintained very well━the temperature."

"So great~"

"Anyway, is there another party involved?" Mitsui-san was still piqued about my love story.

Becoming cognizant of what she said, I gawked at her. "Mitsui-san, you can be quite spot-on."

She waved a hand. "I've been there and done that before."

"Ehhh?"

"I eloped with someone before." She smiled.

"You mean with your husband now?" I didn't want to be nosy, but Mitsui-san's openness could be quite infectious.

"No, with somebody else."

"Ehhh! What happened?" I made a small wave with my movement as I whipped to her with all ears.

"I stayed with him for a while, but I went back to Fukube. We weren't married at that time, though."

"Why did you leave him? That guy you eloped with?" I bit my lip as I became aware that I was being invasive.

She shrugged with her eyes downward and upturned a corner of her lips. "I found out I didn't love him as much as I thought. Actually, once we'd escaped together, I realized he's not the one I want to be with at all."

"But...how do you know?" _How can I know?_

She smiled at me. "The answer is quite simple, but, anyway, what I want to hear is about your story. Let's go back to it, shall we?"

I scratched my cheek and nodded. Making a ripple on the water near me, I confessed, "The thing is...I've fallen for somebody else, and unlike the narcissist, he's nicer, more caring. I'm going out with him..."

It was then that I knew why people consult psychologists and therapists. Sometimes, there were things, although embarrassing, that couldn't be divulged to people I know, and I wanted to tell someone...a person that I don't know that much but would listen to me without prejudgment or bias...a person who couldn't hold any knowledge against me...Something like that...

I guess, I just needed someone who can relate to me...give words of wisdom as I tread a dreary path.

"That narcissist asked you to come with him?"

"Yes..."

"You've got the best of both worlds then."

"Gah! I can't think like that at all! I'm supposedly loyal, but━" I succussed my head and waved my hands.

"You actually want to be with the narcissist more?"

"Ye—No! I mean, I'm happier with Claude━the nice one━than with Naru, so━"

"That's a lie, isn't it?" she interjected, and I blinked and shook my head briskly.

"No...it's not a lie...I'm really happier with Claude! He gave me a lot of wonderful memories, and he always tried not to make me cry or get hurt. He always listened to me and understood me. He prioritizes me too! On top of that, he allowed me to be with Naru although he didn't actually want to."

"Why are you with this Naru now, then?" she questioned blandly. "If you're happier with Claude, why didn't you run back to him immediately?"

I goggled and twinkled, but I still didn't have a definite answer to that. Although I still love Naru, it was the most rational thing to do, right? It was the most human thing to dive towards where you'd be most happy, right?

But why didn't I do that?

Why...did I choose to be with the person who had hurt me the most?

"I...I don't know...I don't know anymore. Right now...I'm just letting myself be impulsive. Although Claude permitted me to give Naru a chance, I know it's wrong, but..."

I couldn't carry on, so I bit my lip and went silent. It didn't make a sense. _**I **_didn't make a sense. I could not understand myself at all...what I really want, who I want to be with...My answers kept on changing...

I puffed. "The problem is me. I'm the one who's faltering all the time. Decisions are like pressure cookers to me, and I...I don't want to make another mistake..."

At last, I pointed it out to myself...some self-scolding I'd been wanting to do...and somehow it felt great...to let myself know what the core of my irresolution is.

Mitsui-san clucked her tongue. "Sometimes, we need to make mistakes to know what's right. That's what happened when I eloped with someone. Every choice we make, wrong or right, will make us realize something important afterwards. Taking risks is essential, Maika-chan."

I nictated. "But...is it alright...to be happy when I know I'm hurting someone?"

"If it's happiness not out of malice, happiness tinged with genuine remorse for the hurt person, then you shall be forgiven."

I bit my lip. Was it really alright...? _To be happy although I know that Claude is hurting somewhere...?_

All throughout the rest of the day, I'd been trying my best not to be distressed by my guilt. I'd been trying to play along with Naru...teasing him like usual...masking a face that's not worried...I'd been trying to escape from my taunting conscience...trying not to think about my mortal sin.

Was it really alright...?

As though she heard me, Mitsui-san bobbed. "After everything, whoever ends with you will be the person you can't stop yearning."

I bowed and cupped the pool's water with my hands.

_A person I can't stop yearning?_

In the depths of my broken heart, I knew...who that person really is.

"Mitsui-san, loving someone and being guilty of it isn't easy at all. I...I'm hurting someone, and I...I'm not happy about that at all."

"Who would be glad? If you would, then you'll be a psychopath or whatever they call those people these days. On another note though, if your guilt is greater than your love, then you wouldn't last a day, an hour, a minute, or not even a second being with that _**pain in the ass**_."

I smiled wanly. Her tactlessness was definitely stunning.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

Mitsui-san rose early from the pool. Her cellphone, which she'd kept in a Ziploc-like bag, rang before we could start another conversation; it was her husband. She told me I could keep the hundred yen (after using the locker, the coin would be returned by the bathhouse manager) as a remembrance. Since she'd done a lot for me, I exchanged email addresses with her before she went out (I wrote hers in a tissue); continuation of contact was the most appreciative thing I could think of after she listened to my woes.

Naru was waiting outside when I egressed from the bathhouse. In sky blue yukata like me, he appeared as dashing as always...and even more so with his wet and neatly combed hair.

_Not black! Dang, my heart is jumping!_

"You should have returned to the room," I greeted with most likely rosy cheeks.

He frowned. "You didn't have money for the locker. Did you receive a coin from someone?"

_A coin?_

I blinked. "No...Ah! There was a girl who was gushing...I think she's keeping it because 'a handsome guy gave it to her.' "

He raised an eyebrow. "Where did you put your things then?"

I shrugged. "Somewhere...I managed."

He didn't press for answers━which was his good trait sometimes. We rode the elevator, and he pressed the "45" button. It was going to be a long journey with only the two of us, so I asked him about his time in the bath.

"It's noisy," he replied.

"You didn't make a friend?"

It was like asking a child after his first kindergarten class.

"There's no need to bother."

"It's not like it'll hurt."

"It's not like I'll meet them again."

"You'll never know."

He shrugged.

"Hmm...there aren't that much people using the elevator, huh. Isn't it still early?"

"It's better. I don't want it to be noisy."

"I don't want silence. You talk."

He loured, and it seemed like he was exhausted. "About what?"

"Anything about your━"

The lift stopped on the 20th floor, and Naru smirked as gossiping three 20-something women stepped in. Naru and I were silent for a moment before I neared him and whispered, "Don't think you were saved."

"I didn't think of anything," he susurrated right back at me.

"Oh well, I have my ways." I grinned devilishly, and he narrowed his eyes as I puffed my cheeks out and produced a loud sound.

The women before us stiffened, and two of them glanced at us before saying as softly as possible, "Was that...?"

"Shh! I don't smell anything," one of them said.

"It can be odorless, you know. Or it takes long to spread..."

Naru glared at me, and I smiled before reproducing the sound again. Louder.

"H-hey, is that you? Did the salad spoil your stomach or something?" one of the women asked gently.

"It's not me!" the accused hissed.

"Well..."

I held Naru's arm and then moved him in front of me.

"Mai, what━?"

Hiding behind him, I made loud incessant farting sounds, and without further ado, the women stared at Naru.

And the narcissist was at a loss.

So I rescued him with a laugh.

"Haha! Sorry about that! This guy had too much air I think," I peeked out from Naru's back while covering my nose and mouth with one hand and fanning the air with the other.

"I-it's okay!" they replied, and they covered their nose when they faced the other way too.

"Such a shame, and he's very hot too..." one of them commented.

"Shh!" The other two gestured.

I leered at Naru, and he sighed.

The women hurriedly got out on the next stop━probably to transfer to another elevator. When the elevator doors closed, I resumed laughing and slapped the wall of the elevator mirthfully while holding my stomach with my other hand.

"Oh Kami, that was precious! Did you see the look in their faces? They actually believed it!"

"That was childish."

"Whaaaaat. Annoyed? Agitated?" I teased.

He sighed once more. "You're always playing around."

"And you're always serious like you're going to some court trial."

"Your analogy is horrendous."

"No it's not~ It's the truth, and you're just in denial~"

He stared at me, and I stared back innocently. Then he sighed for the umpteenth time.

"You're impossible."

"Whaaat?"

Deadpan, he revealed, "Gene was like you, but he's quieter though."

"Gene...was?" I blinked, and he averted his eyes.

"Yes."

"I see..."

Frustration at not being able to remember gnawed my head, so I shook it off. I didn't want to think of sad things when it's supposed to be my vacation...

So I puffed my cheeks and produced the godly sound again like a rap song intro.

"Stop doing that."

I smiled. "Why not? It's a nice uplifting tune."

He squinted his eyes at me. "It's not."

I tittered. "Well, I guess, compared to yours, it doesn't burst out with a scent~"

"What do you mean?"

"Your fart is one of a kind~ Teehee~" I giggled, and he glowered.

"I'd never━"

"Yes, you did~"

"What━?"

"I heard it during the last case. It was an amazing sound! Hohoho And oh my, the smell was━"

"Stop joking around━"

"Haha You're so pale, Naru! Don't be shy! Your fart was quite cute━Ah, we're on our floor, already!"

Happily, I ran and sniggered as Naru's glare followed me to our room.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

I tossed and turned, but even my tedious movements couldn't exhaust and knock me out.

_I can't sleep..._

Unlike during cases wherein we had a lot of mind-boggling things in our brains to tire us into slumber, that night, we didn't have anything to ponder about at all.

I glanced sideways at Naru. _He likes his pajamas in gray hue, huh..._

After eating a feast from the room service guy, I'd added the total of all the receipts of my purchases using a tissue. Fortunately, I only have to sacrifice two months of SPR pay and three weeks of my school allowance, and Naru just yielded with a "Do as you like" when I yammered I'd pay in installments...

_Pain in the ass..._

I giggled. _Mitsui-san is amazing!_

Anyway, since I couldn't sleep at all, I decided to bother the narcissist━if he's still awake.

"Nee, Na━Kazuya?"

His eyes were closed, and he was still. He was lying on his back and facing the ceiling.

_Is he asleep already? It's just ten minutes ago when we turned the lights off...Hmm...he doesn't snore, does he?_

Testingly, I imitated the throaty sound of that scary woman from the movie we saw.

"Can't sleep?" He opened his eyes.

I turned to my side, towards him, and beamed. "Tell me about yourself."

He whipped his head to me and contemplated. "Like what?"

The distance between our beds was just a ruler long, so we could hear each other very well. "Hm...Ah. When and where and from whom did you learn to cook potato soup?"

He shrugged.

I straitened my eyes. "Answer me."

He shrugged again before saying, "From the orphanage...in America...when I was six years old. A nun..."

I nictated and tried to imagine him as a very small boy...stirring a pot of curry. _A bit chubby perhaps? _He'd probably wear an apron...

_Wah...so cute!_

Then my eyelids fluttered. "Wait. America? Aren't your parents living in England?"

"I was born in America. They adopted me from an orphanage there."

"Oh yeah..."

We were soundless for a while. Then...

"Who's the first girl you fell in love with?" I interrogated randomly, blushed, and added, "Don't tell me it's a ghost!"

He quirked an eyebrow and shrugged. "There's no one...before you."

I became erubescent and tsk-ed. "Liar."

_He can really say embarrassing things with a straight face!_

He soughed. "It's not even considered something like that."

I blinked and screwed my eyes at him. "So **_there is_ _one_** before me."

"She doesn't exist."

"HAH? How is that even possible?"

"...She's a character from a book I'd read before."

I gaped at him. _Seriously? Before it's a ghost, now it's a fictional person? What the heck!_

"Geez, stop playing with me." I jutted my lip.

"It was mere admiration. I was a child. Don't worry about it."

"I-I wasn't━! Why would I be jealous at a book's character? Whatever fairytale she came from, she's just make-believe..." I looked away but felt I was too defensive to be persuasive enough.

He smirked, and I awarded him a withering look.

Streaming from the window where I'd parted the silk curtains, the moon illuminated his face and other things in the room with a blue hue. Right then, he was the only distraction I have...

"Mai."

"Hm?" I elevated an eyebrow at him.

"Why did you give up?"

I examined his expressionless face. It was flawlessly concealing whatever emotion he may have as usual. I faced the ceiling, closed my eyes, and listened to my heartbeat.

Why did I give up? On what? On him?

I was tired of getting angry or dwelling in whatever even though I was denying that too. I didn't want to speak so rashly, so I gathered my thoughts before opening my orbs and staring sideways at him. He was doing the same too.

The encounter with Mitsui-san made me unearth one step to happiness: I must be honest to myself...

"Because I had to, or else, I might have gone insane." _Not that I haven't already..._

With pain.

With self-hate.

I might have not noticed the world around me at all.

"Sor━"

"It's not your fault that you don't love me."

"...I'm smitten with you now."

"Hn."

If it was a lie, I would have known just by his glinting eyes, but I knew he wasn't. I knew that he meant it, and I...wished it's real.

That in the end, it wouldn't be just an illusion after all.

The way he admits it without embarrassment or even sugar-sweetness like in those movies was really a great talent.

He would be a good actor for a robot...

I smiled sadly. "Maybe...but things aren't the same anymore."

He was noiseless, and I suspired. Then rolling to the side once more, I faced him and said cheerfully, "Don't worry. You'll be in love with a girl more beautiful and intelligent than me in the future. Someone fitting to be with you."

He glanced at me and squinted his eyes before grunting, "Don't be ridiculous."

"What?" I feigned a laugh. "It's the truth! A narcissist should be with a narcissist. Only narcissists could understand each other."

"There's no such rule."

"It's not a rule. It's a law."

"I'm not a law-abiding citizen."

I clucked my tongue. "Whoa...so you're a delinquent?"

He glowered at me, but there was no hint of anger in his eyes. In them was a message...

Something I was trying not to notice.

I whirled my head and stared at the ceiling once more.

"I doubt you'll marry someone like me. You wouldn't want your child to become an idiot."

_Does he even want a child? _I just couldn't imagine him tending to a crying baby and patting an infant's butt to calm him or her down...

"That won't happen."

_I know, right? _

I nodded. "I knew that alrea━"

"I'll educate our children so that they won't become an idiot," he interrupted.

I gaped at him, and he eyed me tranquilly. Blood rushed to my cheeks, and I wished that the moonlight didn't reach my face.

_Children...? CHILDREN?_

He was serious. He looked so serious that I was mute for a long time. My heart quickened its beat as though it was vying in an Olympics marathon.

Then when I remembered that I shouldn't get so excited, I closed my eyes and breathed deeply before finally talking.

"Whoever you'll marry will be very delighted..."

He didn't reply, and I pouted. Then, thinking of a new question to torture him with, I smirked with reddening cheeks.

"Where do you hide your dirty magazines?"

Changing topics was always my habit. _How will he answer...?_

He frowned. "I don't dabble with obscenities."

"Liar." _Still not fazed huh..._

He raised an eyebrow. "You can check my bedroom after two weeks."

"Tsk! As if it's in your room! You probably hid it in your office that's why you won't let me in there often!"

He sighed, and I grinned triumphantly.

I knew he didn't have any in his office. When he and Lin-san were gone for two days, Yasuhara and I trespassed his territory to get evidence if he's really clean (because of a bet with Bou-san and Ayako). Yasu hacked Naru's PC while I pored over his books and drawers, but the result was...Well...we hadn't checked his bedroom, so it's just tentative. But...

_He can really be too honest, sometimes..._

I laughed and clutched my stomach.

"There's nothing funny." Naru loured at me, and I inched a little closer to the left edge of my bed after I'd restrained my laughs.

"Alright, alright, next question: what's your favorite color?"

"White."

I made a moue with my mouth. "And yet you don't wear anything white."

He swished his head slowly to his side, to me, and tipped his head slightly, "I wear white socks."

Now that, once more, made me laugh. "What's up with that? Just socks?"

He shrugged, but he seemed pleased━though I don't know why. Then he stared at me inquisitively.

I blinked. "W-what?"

"Have you done it before?" he queried to me with a point-blank face.

"Done what?" I nictated. That time, he was the one who changed the channel [question] so fast.

"Have you really slept with Murakami-san?" he asked with a straight, seemingly uncaring, face, which took me aback.

I must be so red then.

"W-what are you suddenly━?" I stammered and looked away. How could he ask such a SENSITIVE THING?! _Dang, dang, dang!_

He didn't look bothered about asking at all, so a thought occurred to me.

_Two can play a game, right?_

"So what if I did?" I smirked and questioned testingly while ogling at him forthrightly. Inwardly, I was screaming in abashment. I was just curious at his reaction, but really...

Claude and I never even ventured that far! I mean, I slept beside him but not sleep as in that kind of sleep! And it seemed like it was that kind of sleeping he was pointing out! Gahhh!

He was faintly perturbed, but he shrugged once more and eyed me with earnestness. "I'll do better than him."

THAT made me so stumped; I was opening and closing my mouth in utter dumbfoundedness.

_WHAT THE HELL IS HE TALKING ABOUT? HOW COULD HE SAY SUCH A THING IN REPLY TO A DELICATE SUBJECT?_

"W-what are you saying, YOU LEWD GUY?" I sputtered.

He regarded me in bafflement as he sat upright. "I meant as a pillow, Mai..."

And then his eyes glinted with comprehension, and he narrowed his eyes. "You don't have anything to be wary about."

I felt so hot that I thought I'd steam. "Y-yes, I do!"

I threw a pillow, but he caught it.

He raised his eyebrow. "It's not your first time to sleep in a room with me, so━"

"Shut up!" Still erubescent, I shunted my head and confronted the ceiling.

He was sullen...Then...

"You...were that serious with Murakami-san?"

I glimpsed at him, and he looked...pissed, jealous...So many emotions flitted in his eyes that I couldn't help but feel guilty for lying. Not gazing at him and reddening so deep, I remedied, "I slept beside him, that's all! F-fornication isn't my thing."

He appeared allayed at that.

"D-don't pounce on me while I sleep."

"I should be the one saying that."

"Wha━And why is that?" I demanded while scrunching my eyes.

"You already pounced on me twice," he reminded.

"No, I didn't."

"You did," he said with such certainty that I doubted myself.

"When and where then?" I challenged.

"In your room last May and at the base, first day, in Kawabuki-san's castle."

The first I remembered, so I returned, "Just once!"

"You boxed me on the second one."

"That's━"

"And said you're enamored with me," he intervened, making me flush and speechless again.

We noiselessly ogled at each other. His dark pools were piercing mine with an intensity I couldn't distinguish what. Naru...had always been like that. He'd always made my heart beat although he wasn't looking at me softly and amorously like Claude does.

Perhaps...it's just like that when the person looking at you was the one you're very taken with...That even if that person didn't whisper sweet words or stare at you fondly...just hearing the person speak...and seeing that person watch you so...particularly...could melt even the thickest icebergs and glaciers in the North Pole of your heart.

_I love him...I love him so much that..._

My heart wouldn't want the time with him to end.

So I closed my eyes and ran away again...I hid once more behind the shadows of my eyelids.

"Good night, Kazuya," I said quickly, and I heard a shuffling noise (of him lying down again?) before he replied huskily.

"Good night, Mai..."

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

It was near midnight. However, even the hands of time were disregarded by the three people in the dimly lit room.

"Are you sure about that, young man?" Rinna Kagami catechized the kowtowing fair-haired boy beside her futon. It was just a few seconds ago that Claude, followed by her housekeeper Chihiru, barged in her room with desperate faces for solely different reasons.

Claude Miller perked up from his dogeza and nodded while prostrating once more. "Yes, Kagami-san."

It was brash and intrusive of him; he knew. But, Claude had thought he could change the future. He'd thought that...since he acted first, things would be different. But he'd completely forgotten...how people's motivations could override even those that were changed...That although events occurred differently, human persistence was amaranthine.

Although he could alter what was imminent, there were some things that transcend his control...

And watching Mai sprinting━

He clenched the hands he'd used to support himself while he bowed. He finally realized what it meant to lose one's mind...

He didn't want to let go of her badly.

He didn't want to let her go at all.

Two weeks...

He couldn't wait that long unless it was guaranteed that when she returns, she would still be beside him.

So, he had to make a move; he had to thwart whatever hindrance there is.

On the other hand, Mai's Obaa-san studied him with ponderance. It wasn't really something to think over. From the start, the old woman had never been quite fond of Mai's true beloved compared to Claude. Indeed, she found Kazuya Shibuya as capable, smart, and polite.

But he seemed noncommittal. Too distanced.

For him to be with Mai until the end would be impossible; Mai, as Kagami-san had observed, was always changing, and Kazuya Shibuya was barely catching up to her. He was a monotonous sort of guy, and it would take a lot of patience and suffering in Mai's part just to make things work (or exciting).

And Kagami-san didn't want that. She didn't want her only heiress and precious (albeit adopted) granddaughter to be incessantly agonized and hurt by someone she loves.

She wanted Mai to be happy even until after she's gone; she didn't want her granddaughter to be heartbroken all her life.

And so, Kagami-san felt it was the right time to interfere. It was the right time to decide upon what would secure Mai's happiness in the future even after the old woman's death.

The dame slowly stood up and was hurriedly assisted by Chihiru. The former then neared Claude and tapped his shoulder. Curiously, Claude gazed up at the feeble-looking yet impervious woman.

"Very well," she conceded, "I accept your proposition."

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

I was dreaming. I could tell clearly when I found myself in the background of the outer space once more. Dreams like that had become too often, and within a matter of minutes...

I spun around, and he was there.

"Naru..." Then I remembered. "Ah, I mean, **_Kazuya._**"

He just smiled at me and didn't talk. It had always become like that. Actually that dream sequence would usually appear after I had my nightmares of Nilne. It's like an after-nightmare salve, bringing me tranquility and safety.

The Naru in my dreams...was Naru...and not Naru. I couldn't understand why I felt that way, but I just...knew.

Naru held out his right hand to me, and I, forgetting that I shouldn't be so easy, extended my own. When I touched him, the effect was instantaneous.

He was aflame.

* * *

><p><strong>XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD~nya~<strong>

Writhing and jerking, I screamed myself awake.

"Mai!" Naru, the real Naru, struggled to restrain me. "Mai!"

I slapped his hands away. "No! Don't touch me! Don't touch me! I'll burn you! I'll kill you!"

"Mai━"

"Noooo! Don't touch me! I'll burn you!"

"Mai, listen to me." He cupped my cheeks, and tears dripped down them as I saw his worried eyes. "You won't burn and kill me."

"But━!"

"You won't," he said firmly and assured, "It's just a dream."

"It can be real...It can...It can..." I shook my head, sniffled, and wept.

It was the first time that I dreamt of that. It was the first time...that my nightmare mingled with my fantasy. It was the first time...that I became scared of myself rather than Nilne or fire.

_Why? Why won't my fears go away?_

_Why must I dream of dreadful things like this all the time?_

The Kawabuki case didn't only take the memory of Gene; it also took my security. I had become afraid of a lot of things...I had become...very vulnerable.

Naru took my hand and squeezed it, but I...couldn't erase the fear in me. It was like when my mother died, and I was left alone...The world felt like a devil smiling at my weakness...The darkness of night was chewing me bit by bit.

As though sensing the cause of my increasing uneasiness, Naru turned on the light of the wall sconces━through the buttons of the device on my bedside table━and returned to my side.

I wanted to forget about it, so I clutched Naru's sleeve and asked with a tremble, "You haven't slept yet?"

"I just woke up..."

"Did I wake you? S-sorry."

"No. I woke up by myself."

I blinked and grasped his sleeve tighter. I needed the diversion so much, so I wanted his presence to distract me just like the few times it did... "Did you have a nightmare too? Do you even get nightmares?"

He nodded.

I stared at him. The thought was novel to me, and I...wanted to know more about him.

"Nightmares...like what?"

He shunted his head and gazed at the window. "...People dying."

"Your parents? Madoka and Lin-san...?" Just the thought of significant people in my life dying in my dreams...it was making me pale.

He jounced his head and peered at me with a mustered poker face. "And you..."

There was a clench in my heart, and I believed him.

He saw me die during the Kawabuki case...

Naru...as Lin-san had said...experienced deaths and sufferings of people with his psychometry. He...had seen and felt more terrible things than I did. He...must have practiced his expressionless facade...just not to worry the people around him.

"How...often do you have them? Every night?" I said softly.

"It's not important."

"Yes it is! Stop isolating yourself."

Dolefully, I gazed at Naru, and he soughed and glimpsed at me in hesitation before finally giving me a box of tissues. Sitting up, I took some of the cottony material and dried my face with it.

I was a mess as usual, but Naru didn't let go of me. It was...sweet of him. It was━despite reluctance━very caring of him. His kind of intimacy was peculiar, but I could feel his softness...his gentleness...his kindness...

"Mai."

Finally clean of snot and tears, I peered at him. "Hm?"

With an emotionless gaze that made my stomach churn in an odd way...he queried, "Do you...want me to hug you?"

I pinkened. Visible or not in the lamplit suite, my body was steaming with heat. It's unintelligible how such a simple inquiry could affect me so much.

How it could make me forget my fears...

Yet Naru must have simply noticed; I was still shivering...

_What is it like to be in his arms━an embrace initiated by him?_

I'd always wondered that, and for him to offer the opportunity at that instance, I couldn't seem to resist. Because at that moment, I had to admit; he was the only person who could drive out my fears in dreams and reality.

He was the only person...I just couldn't live without.

Slowly, I bobbed as my cheeks were becoming scarlet. "Yes...Can you do it while I sleep?"

I was...begging for it, but there were no malicious intentions behind it. I just wanted to be comforted by him...and it's not like it's the first time with someone; Claude had done it every night at the hospital every time I had a nightmare.

_Claude..._

My hands outstretched, I griped Naru's sleeve. "Please, Naru."

He jounced his head, and I moved to make a space for him on my bed before I lay down and rolled to my side to face him. However, Naru just sat on the edge of my bed and stared at the space I'd vacated for him. He...became rigid, as though a statue in the room...

Nictating, I asked, "Is there something wrong?"

He shrugged. "No..."

He hesitated, and I became cognizant.

_Ah...Naru isn't Claude..._

I slowly rose upright and relented, "You know what? Never mind what I said. It's fine if you can't. I know you're not used to being flesh-to-flesh with people, so you don't have to hug me and sleep beside me like Claude does. It's okay, Naru."

He narrowed his eyes and cast me an evil eye before riposting, "It's not about touching you. It's━"

Adjusting the collar of his pajama shirt, he shrugged, disinclined to carry on, and looked away.

Which just made me curious.

I suspired. "You should tell me clearly, you know? That's why you make me angry oftentimes; you don't tell me everything."

"So do you," he quipped.

"I won't go there and stray, so tell me why you're hesitating if you don't mind touching me?" I flushed.

_Jeez, making me ask embarrassing things!_

He gazed at me for a while and glanced at something on the wall (a spot or dust I couldn't see?) and back to me again with a...stony face...

"If I touch you, I might not be able to control myself."

I gawked and goggled at him. My jaw was going to drill itself into the earth's core if it wasn't screwed tight to my skull. His words circled in my mind, pumped out the soul from my body, and pitched it to Nirvana. My heart was celebrating. My body was tingling with sinful excitement.

Now that I pondered about it, I had never ever considered Naru as...an uncontrollable guy, nor did I even think of him so much of a guy...I...had never worried about his proximity (except that my heart might jump out of my chest when he's near) because he's a guy. I would frequently become self-conscious of his closeness because I love him...not because he's a guy.

_"We're both men, Mai," Claude had said before..._And it was only at that instance that I had come to comprehend his statement.

_Gahh..._My cheeks were going to erupt...

"Ho-honestly? That's it? What's up with that? You said I have nothing to be wary about." I couldn't look at him properly. Not at all.

"I have...misjudged myself." He scowled.

_Holy━!_ My heart was leaping like mad...My cheeks were steaming...Probably beet red, I immediately harrumphed and spoke, "You're really a great liar."

"Make some sanction."

I twinkled at him. "Hah?"

He shrugged. "Make some sanction. Something like...you'll punch me if I touched you somewhere you didn't like."

_He...still wants to touch me? Kami-sama, I can't take all of this! I'm going to have a heart attack!_

But...

_I...do want him to hug me though..._

Erubescent, I shunted my head and tried to even my tone.

"O-okay. D-don't grope me anywhere. D-don't kiss my forehead, and...y-you can only touch my back with your hands. If you do any of those I prohibited you to...you'd have to grow a mustache and goatee!" It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, but it seemed to work as a threat since he blanched.

_So he thinks it ruins his image too, huh? What a narcissist!_

He shrugged and nodded after a few minutes. "Understood."

I blinked, giggled (at what I'd imagined), and patted the bed space for him. "Hug me at your own risk then, narcitist."

Although I was embarrassed, my desire to have him near me was overpowering my petty humiliation.

He squinted his eyes. "You're really enjoying this."

"I enjoy manipulating you, yes. I didn't know it could be this fun~" _Good! That's it! Just act like it's nothing! I'm not flustered! I'm bold, right?_

He sighed and crept beside me.

Aftershave? Shampoo? Shower gel? I couldn't find out from whatever his scent came from, but it was...making my body feverish with its "manliness."

_Dang female hormones...!_

Claiming his space, he enveloped the both of us with the ivory duvet. Facing him while leaning on my side, I inched closer to his warmth. Reluctantly...carefully...he extended an arm over me and loosely engulfed me with it. He tried not to touch my back with his palm, but he soon changed his mind.

His breath was hot on the top of my head. His adam's apple moved up and down as he swallowed. I had reflexively placed a hand on his chest when he hugged me, and I could feel his heart thumping...quite fast.

_Just like mine...Is he...nervous?_

For him to seem unsettled like that...made me feel brazen and at ease. He was still the Naru who's unlikely to touch someone so...affectionately. He was still unused to showing any kind of fondness...unlike Claude.

Unable to restrain myself, I devilishly traced a finger on his collarbone and noted him shudder before he pulled apart slightly and inquired with a addled gaze, "What are you doing?"

Hoping my blush couldn't be seen, I answered with a smirk, "I'm just messing with you."

And I closed the gap once more━my nose grazing his chest and smelling peppermint on his pajamas. But I observed how his shoulders finally sagged and relaxed.

Even if it shouldn't be, my heart was...fulfilled. Even though it wasn't the first time I'd be sleeping in a boy's arms, I...felt as though it was, and my cheeks were heating up recurrently.

"I move a lot, so you might wake up on the floor," I cautioned.

"...Yeah."

"You might wake up with my foot in your mouth."

He stiffened, and I tittered. Acting so carefree...I knew that day would be the last time.

Because there was something I have to reflect upon.

_Kami-sama, I've done a lot of mistakes today. I've betrayed Claude, but..._

_Tomorrow will be different..._

_Tomorrow...I won't let Naru touch me like this..._

_But tonight, only tonight, please let me relish his warmth._

_I'm sorry, but please._

_Just tonight._

Buried in his chest, I mumbled sleepily, half-jokingly, "Can you scratch my back? It's itchy..."

**XDXDXDXD~nya~**

* * *

><p><em><strong>"History does not repeat itself:<strong>_

_**we repeat history."**_

**XDXDXDXDXD~nya~**

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><p><strong>AN:** T.T I finally finished this! It was really hard for me to finish this chapter, and I didn't want to rush it because this one's so important just as the rest. I'm so sorry if it took a long time━more than half a year.

Thank you very much to those who reviewed last chapter! Day 2 will be next! XD How was this chap? You may share your thoughts.

D80=36C

20,000 yen=$200+

**P.S. **I know I kept saying I will update new chapters of my stories simultaneously, but it's quite hard for me somehow. =.= When I get a chap done, I get excited to update, and I can't resist the temptation! I'm so sorry. T.T Besides that, I somehow like taking my time in updating. I don't want to be rash like before, so I'm sorry if my updates aren't fast. *bows*


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